It has been a while...

 

Fireworks in the graveyard:  Liberty

I guess it has been a while since I've posted!  Still making dolls, and the following dolls are variations on the Simple Doll pattern in the previous post.  Somehow I got on to a creepy-cute kick, and these started jumping off my hooks.  There is no separate pattern for them.  

For inspiration, I found a great Etsy seller of digital artwork:  Locker61;  purchased her zombie/voodoo/creepy digital art, and used it for inspiration.  Here is an example:

Digital artwork by Locker61

These make up fast.  If you have a cache of buttons, mix them up for the eyes.  To color the faces, I used colored pencils dipped in water.  You really cannot go wrong.

I sketched the backgrounds using a free online application:  Sketchbook.  I am no artist, but it was just plain fun to draw again, like I did as a kid.  I use this on an Android tablet computer.  

Here are a few more of my creepy friends:

Flora

Stone

Flora and Stone got their names from an Aldi's Merlot...

Wormwood

Rosewood

Crochet is amazing.  With a hook and string, you can create anything.  Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas and Blessed Yuletide, from Ivy, Merry, and Noelle.

"Not Recommendable" by Facebook

 

Artwork by J R R Tolkien

I am a tremendous fan of all the works of J R R Tolkien.  I love the movies, and I love the new Amazon Prime Rings of Power streaming show.

So I decided, with some encouragement from like-minded friends, to create a Facebook Page to celebrate all things Tolkien.  His own words, his own art, my words, my photography, and such topics that I feel to be relavant to Tolkien.  My page is known as 'Marigold Brandyfoot'

Today, Facebook publishes on my page the following statement:

Your Page is not recommendable

Content on your Page is preventing it from being suggested to people. Let's help you be recommendable again.

What???  Two days ago, I did a post regarding the banning of books, asking when the books of Tolkien might find themselved banned from middle and high school libraries.  This is the only thing I can think of that would have lead to the above chastisment from Facebook.  Interestingly, a sense of censorship here.

If you would like to journey with me in Middle Earth, and celebrate its beauty, and grieve at its hurts, you can follow my page here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088661962619

Here is a sample post from June 4:

“I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I find human maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals.” JRR Tolkien

Please join me, in Middle Earth.  Thank you.  signed....Marigold Brandyfoot.

Memorial Day 2023

Memorial Day 2023

Soldiers who kept us free;

Spouses who loved our country.

Their memories fade

As do our own,

Reaching toward our final home.

'Never forget' never lasts;

And so we never learn

From the tears of our past.

Rest in peace;

You did your best;

May we have the courage to do the rest.

Family

 

Family will not be with you forever. Enjoy the time you are given. Husband, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Sister, Brother, and Dad.

Back in business!!!

 After several months of being dead (my blog, not me...), I've resurrected my blog!  From the wasteland that Google left it in (by deleting the website that was hosting my patterns) it rises like a Phoenix to live again!

I've done my best to restore all the pattern links within each post and also the links along the left sidebar.  I may have missed one or two, but they should all work.

Touch the Dark

 

Sauron defeated...and yet...

 

Sauron defeated…and yet…

What of this Middle Earth we claim as home

Where fires burn where no dragons roam.

Where coasts are drowned as surely as Westernesse

And the Wise have sailed; sailed to the West.

Orcs breed, but not in Misty Mountains cold;

In City Canyons built on gold;

In Empty places where fear and hate

Are allowed to stew and percolate.

Dark Lords reign in Corporate Towers

And promise pain to those that cower

Among the wreckage of Middle Earth

That greed and corruption now devours.

For Men above all desire Power.

Beth Webber 8/25/2022

Pro Life?

 To verify the attribution:  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pastor-dave-barnhart-unborn/

Pro unborn is not pro-life.

The Dream

 

The Dream

Alone I am walking the Pleasant Run trail,

Just under the Raymond Street bridge, heading toward Shelby.

A person is walking, slowly, ahead of me,

And my steps bring me even with his stride.

We walk in silence together. He is middle height, middle age, brown eyes and hair.

Sweatshirt, jeans, and sandals. It is Winter.

Half a mile on, we stop. To the left, along the creek bank, is a homeless camp.

Tent, tarp, and trash, and one person; man or woman impossible to tell.

“What do you see?” the man beside me asks

“An assault to my senses, to the earth, nothing but trash defiling the trail,” comes my immediate answer.

“What do You see?” I ask the man. Quietly…

“Hopelessness. Hopelessness and suffering on the edge of despair” the man with the brown eyes says.

I look again, at the tent, and the tarp and the trash, and the despair.

I look back at the man, but he is gone.

I walk on, alone.

Beth Webber 4-2-2022

Ukraine

 To honor the people of Ukraine, I created a small crochet flag and sunflower.  Did you know that  Ukraine exports more sunflower seeds than any other country?

The free pattern is available at this link: Flag and Sunflower.

While you make this flag, and sunflower, say a prayer for the people of Ukraine.

Be Still

 

Be Still

The stillness of the snow at night;

The stillness of the gentle rain.

The stillness of the owl in flight;

The stillness of a silent pain.

The stillness of the leaves that glide;

The stillness of the twilight moon.

The stillness of the tears that slide;

The stillness of the graveyard’s gloom.

The stillness of the morning glow;

The stillness of the path beyond.

The stillness of:  be still and know

That I am God.

Earth Teach Me

 

Earth teach me Faith

As the sun also rises.

Earth teach me Hope

To meet a new tomorrow.

Earth teach me Love

As you’ve cradled us from birth to death.

Earth teach me Humility

In the face of all eternity.

In solitary silence, the weary world awaits

 

Holiday blessings to you and all you love.  May joy and beauty grace the new year.

Light of Moon and Sunset

 At the end of the street, along the railroad track.  The Moon and Venus dance in the sunset.

The colors of Fall paint the sky

And a beauty beyond our reach high above.

Look carefully; the moon is tangled in the branches of the trees.

By Moonlight and Starlight, may you walk in peace.

 

Faith can take you unaware

As you stare into the darkness

Of despair within your heart.

Faith can take you unaware.

And Hope, her child, follows close

To heal the broken and the lost

Upon the shores of life and death.

What is the cost of Hope?

Love is the cost of Faith and Hope;

The beacon that chases away the dark;

The sinews that bind the broken heart;

The foundation stone of Faith and Hope.

When We Die

My sister and brother and I have been clearing out our Father's home, since he can no longer safely live there alone.  Dismanteling a lifetime of love, laughter, tears, and grief.  Our Mother died seven years ago, and our Father is dying by degrees, losing his memory, and having his liberty robbed from him by dementia, and those who love him.

These thoughts have been swirling around in my head and finally came together as this:

Lately I've given Death a lot of thought:

What comes before, what awaits after.

Are we consigned to a pit of fire and flame

Or absolute oblivion?

Or to wander, silent and unseen?

There was a Man, years ago, who knew

To where we go.

The Kingdom of God is within, he said,

There is no kingdom of the dead.

When my Mother died, she did not depart

To some far country, but remains in my heart.

When I die I will go to that place

Where what was done poorly, is forgiven;

What was done well, will be celebrated;

And I will dwell within this Kingdom forever.

 

Make America Kind Again.

A lot confronts us.  Lets remember to be kind.

What should outrage you?

So, which of these infringes on your Constitutional rights? Being required to wear a mask, or the Federal Government sending troops against its own citizens?

Outraged?  Yes!  Over mask mandates?  No!

D-Day Rememberance

76 years ago today we launched the attack that ultimately ended the Nazi terror of World War II. 

How in God's name did we ever let that flag fly in this country?