A Return to Blogging

Hello blogging friends!  I hope your summer (or winter I guess, depending upon which end of the world you're on) has been lovely.  I am dismayed at how long its been since Carol or I have posted anything on TwoLuLa.  

I decided to go back and read our first post and reconnect with why we started TwoLuLa in the first place.  Carol wrote:

"Cynthia and I have decided to embark on a journey to discover the creativity in our friendship, in our lives, in our unique perspective on life as Christian women in a Lutheran church, in the ordinariness of our days, and who knows where that journey will lead us?  

We create.  We both crochet.  Cynthia gardens and dabbles in sketching.  She has even taken that step into learning more in an art class!  I have made jewelry.  I love to write.  Cynthia quilts.  I dream of quilting.  I sew.  Lately, I have been involved in making huge banners for our new church worship space.  We both collect books and specialty magazines.  And we have families – believe me child-raising and husband-pleasing takes enormous amounts of creativity and perseverance and endurance.  And prayer.  Lots and lots of prayer!

So to refuse to allow life to get in the way of creativity, we have decided to get together on a weekly or nearly-weekly basis to be creative.  To chat.  To grow our friendship.  And along the way, improve our lives.

I hope something that we do inspires you, or at the very least, makes you smile or laugh with us."

I think we both still agree that its vital to find creative time in each day - be it crochet, knitting, sewing or needlework,  drawing, painting, writing or photography, gardening, cooking or homemaking.  Creativity  takes so many, many forms! But whatever the form, it is rejuvenating to the spirit and calming to the body. And absolutely essential!

Carol and I have not done a good job at all with getting together on a weekly or even near weekly basis. This we must remedy!  Children return to school in two weeks or so and I think we will, no, I know we must, begin our weekly visits again.

My first Wool Eater blanket.

So what creative endeavors have I been occupied with?  The summer months have definitely lessened my time spent crocheting.  But I did start a new bavarian crochet (aka Wool Eater) blanket.  The one I started a few months ago, which was intended as a blanket for a cousin's little girl ended up as a table topper in my home.  While I loved the colors, I thought they were better suited to my dining room than for this little girl. 

So here's my progress on blanket number two:

My plan is a bit of a rainbow effect.  As you can see I am into the blues now.  They will slowly turn to greens and then yellows.  Looking at it I wish I had a better gradation of pinks and purples, but I was trying to work with the yarn I have and resist the temptation to buy more.

 

Some of the pinks and purples are the same as the first blanket.  It was absolutely amazing the effect the  rounds of blue had.  The whole blanket just popped!

I have also been working on my son Daniel's blanket and am almost done crocheting the rows.  I need to take some photos to post.  Maybe tomorrow, if its sunny and I get new camera batteries.

Running with a meadow of butterflies and birds on one side of me and...

 I started running back in June while on vacation down in Hilton Head South Carolina.  It was so, so lovely to run along the beach with the ocean on one side of me and the endless sky above.  I wish I had pictures to share.  I kept on running once we returned from that paradise.  Mainly I run around the neighborhood, but sometimes I find lovely places such as the Teetertown Nature Preserve in New Jersey.

a sweet little pond on the other.

I find  my time running to be so rejuvenating and spirit lifting.  I am not mom nor wife nor daughter when I run.  Just me, listening to music and being with me.

Peace,

Cynthia

Squares of Comfort

Carol came over today for our weekly creativity fest. She was a little bleary-eyed from her trip to the eye doctor and I had to leave for an hour for parent-teacher conferences at the middle school (it was so good to see my former colleagues!) so we didn't actually get a lot of creating done. We are still trying to figure out this world of blogging (what exactly is the difference between following a blog and becoming a member?), so we spent some time on that. Also, Carol brought along two big bags of 8 inch squares that our friends at church have been making. She started (a year and a half ago?) a crochet group at church. Carol is a great teacher and has taught many women and some of our girls to crochet. I was always too busy or exhausted  juggling my family and teaching job to get to any of these meetings. Then last December I stopped working (that's a story for another post) and one of the benefits was that I could now go on Tuesday nights! The group has evolved into more than just crochet - some crochet, some knit, some do beautiful needlework, some make jewelry, another draws and paints,  and one little girl came and brought her shrinky dinks to make jewelry with! We enjoy creating and sharing our lives together. Aside from our own projects and gifts, we are going to assemble blankets to donate. That is where the 8 inch squares come in. These are just a few of the many - all different styles, colors and patterns. In January we will begin the task of designing and sewing together the blankets.
I haven't seen the squares I made in a while. Looking at them I am reminded of my dad.  When I made these he had just moved into an assisted living and I crocheted squares as I sat with him and watched his favorite movies.  Dad has dimentia and I knew the move, while essential,  was the beginning of a long, sad decline. Focusing on learning different patterns helped to ease the turmoil of knowing that the dad I knew was slipping away.  I hope the blanket made with my squares will bring comfort to someone else, child or adult,  going through a difficult time.


Peace,
Cynthia

Hello and Welcome

“Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary.” - Dewitt Jones

Cynthia and I have decided to embark on a journey to discover the creativity in our friendship, in our lives, in our unique perspective on life as Christian women in a Lutheran church, in the ordinariness of our days, and who knows where that journey will lead us?  

How did this all begin?  It began with my need to paint-by-numbers and Cynthia’s willingness to indulge me on this path to discovery, and join me in our secret painting project.  Months later (with a disruptive summer in between) we are still working on that painting and our friendship has grown in the process.  Then came the blog.  We both had an interest in blogging, but never moved forward on it until Cynthia came up with the idea to blog together and voila!  Two Lutheran Ladies - TwoLuLa was born!

We create.  We both crochet.  Cynthia gardens and dabbles in sketching.  She has even taken that step into learning more in an art class!  I have made jewelry.  I love to write.  Cynthia quilts.  I dream of quilting.  I sew.  Lately, I have been involved in making huge banners for our new church worship space.  We both collect books and specialty magazines.  And we have families – believe me child-raising and husband-pleasing takes enormous amounts of creativity and perseverance and endurance.  And prayer.  Lots and lots of prayer!

So to refuse to allow life to get in the way of creativity, we have decided to get together on a weekly or nearly-weekly basis to be creative.  To chat.  To grow our friendship.  And along the way, improve our lives.

I hope something that we do inspires you, or at the very least, makes you smile or laugh with us. 

Carol