I will also not reveal the name of my partner until I am sure the package has arrived to him/her. I added a few goodies too, following the inspirations that I have seen on other blogs. Can you guess I am having a little anxiety over this exchange? I actually did enjoy it very much. I love to buy gifts and this gave me a wonderful excuse to pick up a few little things and also finish a project in a set amount of time. I will certainly join another exchange when the opportunity comes around.
. I have a red, white and blue one in the works right now. They are made from "Sugar & Cream" crochet cotton by Lily, although I have found a slightly cheaper WalMart version of this cotton also. The pattern is free on the Lily website. When I find the link I will post it here. The old cliche holds true "If I can do it, anyone can!" They really are quite simple and, no insult intended to the avid crocheters, rather mindless work. I can crochet away on these while watching TV in the evening or just sitting outside basically staring off into space. The "space" as it is, has been rather hot and hazy today. Bordering on oppressive, but not quite as there is a nice breeze blowing. 
This I will also call a prototype since it is riddle with mistakes in sizing. I bought 4 wonderful patterns off of eBay for my Alex and Tyler 16" dolls, but they always need a bit of tweaking before they fit right. There is a big gap in the closing of the skirt back and the sleeves of the black underblouse are too tight. I simply chopped them off to fit under the jacket. But since the jacket sleeves are too long it's not noticeable.
At Home With Jane Austen By Tanja Marie Anderson
Pictured with my own little version of Jane.
Barbara Ana Design Make A Wish and the perfect cording I found to go with it.
Crochet mesh bag. A variation of a pattern from Sugar n' Cream
As usual I dreaded going back after a nice long, peaceful break. I love so much being at home, but this doesn't make me any money. It had been totally up in the air as to whether I would coach the Level 5 group again now that it is quite large or was I still "out". I was going to just let it ride until Monday. At last check,12 May, which was the last time I had a serious talk with my boss, she was not sure she wanted me back at Level 5 even though the group was now expanded to 17 girls. Infact my friend Brenda had told me that the boss called Lyla, the Level 8/9, coach to see if she should "help" with the 5 group instead since there were so few Level 8/9 girls left. What is this "help"? I don't know what that even meant! So was it now Jill and Lyla at Level 5 and I' m still out? Or do we need three coaches for that group? I was so afraid to ask. When I confronted the boss about the increased number of Level 5s on 12 May she said that she felt Jill and I did not work well together and that she would have to meet with us to discuss it. All this means is that Jill has been talking badly about me and wants to keep the group to herself. I did not want any meeting. I have coached there for over 7 years now and the boss always gives me good reviews. Then suddenly since about late September things are bad because of the division between me and Jill. That is all it really is. I do not want a meeting because again Jill will use this as a opportunity to take advantage of my shyness and "cooperation" as I buckle under to all she says. She knows I am not good in these situations and she is a very loud, bold talker and will dominate the meeting and make me look like a feeble little fool (AGAIN!)
Surprise, surprise! I guess I am working with the 5s again! It all came out in the usual back-handed way. About 5pm last Friday Sherry, the boss's assistant in the office, called me to tell me my junior group was running on Tuesday and Thursday, but their weren't enough kids for me to stay and teach Level 1 or Level 2. So she says "I guess you just have those hours and your stuff with Team". Sherry doesn't know anything about the Team stuff (except all the crap that I tell her). She could tell I was pissed off because I was kind of short with her and not joking around like I usually do. I asked to talk to Peggy, my boss. I don't know what ever possessed me to do that. I didn't have any index cards prepared on what exactly to say or any sharp and snappy responses to any of the trash she would say to me. Luckily she wasn't in the office so I asked Sherry to leave her a message simply stating "What hours do you want me to be there for Team starting Monday?"..........no names mentioned, no Levels mentioned etc. Peggy called me back in about ten minutes and was in a real laughy/chatty mood. She said she needed me to stay until 9pm with the 5s and then went right into rambling on about who will be at what Level and how many kids we had on Team now. Then I helped her update her roster ( 20 minutes!!) since she really has no idea what kids are where or who has really quit (she confused Morgan, a Level 6 who is staying with Shelby, a Level 7 who has quit!!). The conversation went on it's merry way with no mention of Jill or any of the insults or injuries incurred from that situation! I think she's on drugs...I really do. With all those people helping her in the office and the stacks and stacks of paperwork she keeps on all the kids and Team in general, she really has very little idea of what is actually going on. She told me we had 42 girls on Team until I "found" four more that she had forgotten. I couldn't wait to see what s**t Jill would stir up on Monday night, since she obviously "thinks we don't work well together" Well, nearly 24 hours has passed and all the wheels kept on rolling and the gym continued to run smoothly, according to Peggy who is still completely blind to everything that has gone on since September. Jill tossed me some terrible attitude. Pretty much the pre-teen "whatever" sort of thing every time I asked her opinion on the rotations, number of kids in the group, how will we divide them up, what skills we should focus on. She was really playing it up. I think she was bating me into being "bossy and possessive"....she had accused me of that before and that was her main reason for getting me dumped from the Level 5 group in January. I forced myself to be "Little Miss Sunshine" the entire evening. Everything was marvelous with the kids. Both my Level 4 and Level 5 groups worked very hard and I didn't have any problems. I am in such a pickle over what I should do about Jill's behaviour. Obviously she knows I just "let it slide" all of last season and she got exactly what she wanted. If I go to the boss about last night's little performance then I am the trouble-maker and the tattletale. OK, this is starting to sound so grammar school.
I only get in three days this week as I have found a sub for Thursday so I can be at home with my parents who will be visiting from New Jersey. We are off on Fridays in the Summer anyway. My mom and dad are coming on Thursday (12th) and staying through Father's Day. My dad prefers to spend Father's Day here away from my sister-in-law and all her overblown celebrations and her rather over bearing parents. She attempts these Martha Stewart-like extravaganzas that never seem to come out the way she planned. I think it's because she has been estranged from her own parents for several years. They are barely on speaking terms yet she continues to go through each holiday like an MGM movie production of the 1940's. Makes me think twice about complaining about the relationship I have with my parents.
Alix has been doing quite well for over three weeks. No "attacks" of any kind and she seems to have a better appetite. A huge THANK YOU to the lovely Harmien who has told me about a powdered medicine given to older cats with kidney failure. It helps release the phosphates in their food so they get more nutrition out of what they eat. I talked to my Vet about it but it involves a blood test for Alix and I'm not sure I want to stress her out by dragging her to the vet for this. I know, it sounds like I am a terrible pet owner. I wish the Vet could come here to do the test. Even then, Alix is so freaked out by strangers. She seems quite happy now and I'm not sure if her past seizures would be effected by this medication. Harmien's cat, Gabber, is 21!
He's a variation of Prairie Schooler #54 Garden Beasties. I used DMC Color Variations #4190 and regular DMC 150 and 721. I was a bit nervous about messing with a sacred PS pattern. I have never varied one of them before because they are so perfect the way they are. I really do like how this little guy turned out. I did eventually paint the bottom of the papier-mache box a bright lime green to match the hand-dyed linen. I might try the spotted frog next in some wild color combination.
As for the tutorial requested on how to finish a star shape, here is my advice. DON'T DO IT! Just stick to squares or circles. Actually I did take some photos of the WIP and I will write a little tutorial in a future post, but for now I am just recovering from the torture of making these darn things. The man standing between the two stars is Uncle Sam of course. He is from Needl' Love booklet #23 "Holiday Friends". There is Miss Liberty who goes along with him and hopefully she will be finished later today. If these awful rain storms continue as they have for the past 18 hours or so I will get a lot of "indoor time" to work on some stitching and finishing. This all hinges on the hopes that the electric will stay on while it's storming.
The weeping willows, lambs, doves etc.....and the verses are perfect to translate into needlework.
