Sometimes You Just Need To Go Shopping!

I'm a big Susan Branch fan.
I love her books.

And, I love her mugs.
She designs them all.
First on paper!
She sends the designs off to England where they are made.
Dunoon, fine bone china.

Many months ago I ordered the first three of her mugs.
The mugs are covered with her wonderful watercolor designs --
even on the handles.
They arrived in time for my birthday coming up this week.

Each mug is very different.
They hold 16oz of tea, soup, stew -- anything you might want 16oz of!
I admit, I haven't tried beer in a mug!

I think my favorite is the Go Green or Earth/Nature mug.
I love the quote:
"Most know the earth is utterly enchanted."

Susan recently announced that she had more mugs in the works.
I decided I just needed to go shopping!

Shop I did.

There are four new designs:
Bluebird, Martha's Vineyard, and Santa -- all 16oz.
Some folks requested a smaller cup and 11oz Autumn will fit that bill.

Each cup is sold separately or a group of three
(Bluebird, Martha's Vineyard, and Santa).
Autumn is sold separately only.

New designs mean the old designs will be retired.

Yes, I ordered all four -- Christmas presents for me!

You can find details on her blog -- click on the shopping icon.

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Found at Celestial Seasonings

Amaze Me Monday

Make It Pretty Monday

Mosaic Monday

Did Someone Say Breakfast?

On one of the last low humidity days before summer takes hold,

I walked up to my village to have breakfast at the Black Walnut.

Such a nice walk, cool morning, listening to the birds, 

people out walking their dogs with smiles on their faces.

Good Morning!

The Pico Benedict -- delicious.
Having breakfast with my little Buddha reminds to take my time,
enjoy each bite, be thankful to everyone who made the breakfast possible.

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Another cool morning took me to the zoo.

Did someone say breakfast?
One of the gorillas is happily munching away on his breakfast.
Love those greens!

And, the Black Bears know how to do breakfast right!
A big juicy bone while floating in the pond.

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Mosaic Monday

Purrfect!

My kitties (with a little help) knew just what to do for Mother's Day.

Flowers!

Gerbera Daisy, Hydrangea and Dianthus.

To top it all off -- a new owl mug. 

Purrrfect!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Mosaic Monday

Monday Social

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing YOU well and much joy on this special day.

Tra La! It's May!

Tra la, it's May, the lusty Month of May

That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray.

Tra la, it's here, that shocking time of year

When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear!

(Lyrics from Lerner and Loewe's Camelot)

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Where I live, the arrival of May means summer is here.
Six months of summer and six months of not summer.
Although the "not" summer seems to be getting shorter.

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Did you know the month of May is named for the Roman goddess Maia,
who oversaw the growth of plants?
Also from the Latin word maiores, "elders," who were celebrated during this month.

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Amaryllis is blooming in Musashi's garden.

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My 50th high school reunion is this year.
THUD!

Here I am --

If I remember correctly, the senior pix were taken the end of the junior year.
Thus the short hair (look at all that teased hair).
Yes, I have my eyes closed  -- the sun is bright in New Mexico.

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It's no secret that I enjoy shopping (especially window shopping) at Sur La Table.
This is what I found in their latest email.

Too cute!


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I decided I needed to clean out my yarn closet.

I would open the door and wonder what would fall out next!

My habit when I'm working on a project,

knit, crochet, counted cross stitch -- whatever --

is to put all the supplies in a tote bag with the project.

A girl can never have too many tote bags.

So in goes the pattern, yarn, needles, hooks -- everything to get the project done.

And when I finish, I tend to leave everything in the tote bag.

So, cleaning out the yarn closet meant I went through all the tote bags to see what was there ... mostly patterns and hooks/needles.

One of the totes had two balls of a washable acrylic, nylon yarn in a wonderful teal with dark  blue specks, a circular needle and several scarf patterns.
I like to use a circular needle on small projects.

 One of my all time favorite stash busting patterns from Knit Picks was included.

I must have decided to try to get a scarf from the two small balls of yarn.

Well, it worked!

Here's the finished product.

I cut the pattern (Diagonal Garter Stitch Scarf) from the Knit Picks catalog 
(back when they sent catalogs by mail).

It's very simple -- Cast on 22 stitches (or your choice).

RS: Knit into front and back of first st, knit across to last 2 sts, K2tog.

WS: Knit

Repeat these two rows until scarf is desired length and bind off loosely.

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Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Five On Friday

Willy Nilly Friday

Mosaic Monday

Monday Social

Craft On