ENGLISH TEA

With all the bead-knitted purses I've made, you can probably imagine that I have quite a stash of leftover beads, and I do, but not enough to make another purse out of any one particular color. So, what to do, what to do... How about embellishing? Can you guess what I'm making?

S.W.A.K.

WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN?

I don't think Georgie is too happy about this make-shift rain coat, but it's been raining cats and dogs here! :) We should consider ourselves lucky because just to the west of us it is all snow! The weather reports say we've got anywhere between 4-8" of rain - imagine that in the white stuff!!!!! They also tell us this rain is supposed to switch over to snow late this evening - let's just hope they're wrong.

So, how do you recycle your plastic bags? I don't think this is quite what Stew Leonard's had in mind.

S.W.A.K.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Inspiration

I could use a little help from my blogger friends. Frannie is having a birthday soon - she will be turning nine - did I say that? Nine - holy cow! She will be having a "Learn To Knit" party and is inviting her Brownie/Jr. Girl Scout troop (the girls range in age from 8-11). A friend of mine has graciously offered her place of business to hold the party, and I have graciously accepted. She owns a stationery store called Paper Dolls and has the perfect room for our event - it has two large tables and plenty of chairs. The funny thing is, before she offered her store, I had already planned on having a "Paper Doll" theme (I guess it's just meant to be), along with a "Learn To Knit" activity. Here's what we have planned so far - I am making invitations using the large paper doll fabric. I have copied them onto card stock and I am cutting out the dolls. Each doll will hold a pair of knitting needles - I made them out of toothpicks with sparkly bead toppers for ends and put 5 yarn stitches on each pair - cute, if I do say so myself. Each girl in attendance will receive a pair of knitting needles (made by me - I'll tell you about that later) with twelve stitches already cast on, and a ball of yarn. The girls will only learn how to do the knit stitch. They will also receive a Girl Scout knitting badge for their sashes. I plan to make cupcake holders out of the pink paper doll fabric (again, copied onto card stock), and I'm thinking of using the light blue doll fabric as cupcake toppers as well as making some faux balls of yarn with thin strips of fondant or shoelace red licorice. I also thought that a reading of Knitting Nell by Julie Jersild Roth would be fun.

Knitting Nell

So this is where your advice comes in - what ideas can you think of for this kind of theme party? Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

S.W.A.K.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE

WINTER OLYMPICS - 2010
FIGURE SKATING

SPEED
SCORE: 1.0

ROUTINE
SCORE: 1.0

OUTFIT
SCORE: 10.0

FRIENDSHIP
SCORE: 10.0

FUN
SCORE: 10.0

Yesterday was Brown/Girl Scout Day at the local ice skating rink.

Girl Scouts - It's A Good Thing!

S.W.A.K.

LUCK BE A LADY

1,521

That's the number. I had no idea there were that many Conversation Hearts in the jar. I usually purchase one or two bags each year and add them to the collection. After the holiday, they all go into a Ziplock bag and get stored in the freezer until the following year. We never eat them - just like to look at them. So, if I have checked the comments correctly, the winner is La Tea Dah of Gracious Hospitality who guessed 1,486 - only off by 35 hearts. Congratulations!

Now remember, I've already had a few bead-knitted purse giveaways and I plan to do more, so be sure to check back often. Spring is right around the corner and I just love the color blue (hint, hint).

S.W.A.K.

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?

Okay, time's up. Frannie and I are in the counting room counting our money, I mean Conversation Hearts. We'll be back a little later to give you the tally. While you're waiting, here are a couple of Valentine pillowcases I've made. I'm another one of those who loves the aqua and red combo.

Be back soon.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

S.W.A.K.

CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

This may be coming soon to a mailbox near you! Pink pearl bead-knitted purse and a chocolate bar charm to boot! Here's all you have to do to enter:

Guess how many small conversation hearts are in the jar - yep - that's it. Make a comment and put in your lucky number.

Feeling like you could use a little extra luck? Then paste the conversation heart giveaway image on your blog with a link back here. Come on back and tell me you did it and then go ahead and make another guess.

If you can't figure out how to post the icon, just go ahead and blog about it with a link to my site and let me know, and you can take another guess that way too.

Now you don't have to have a blog to enter, but leave a way for me to contact you should you have the correct entry.

Since it's hard to tell the exact size of the jar, I'll give you a little info - it measures approximately 10" from top to bottom, including the lid, and the circumference is about 20". The jar is about two-thirds full.

Contest closes Sunday, February 14th, Noon EST. Winner to be announced sometime before the close of Valentine's Day. Closest guess wins.

So what are you waiting for? GUESS!

S.W.A.K.