I finished something!

I finished this bag last week! Don't tell my Shug!!! I'd probably get in trouble, but seriously, I only needed a couple more hours to finish it. It was all put together except the lining and handles.

Notice the picot stitches!


The bag is, however, Big. Too big really for a purse. So I'm thinking, beach bag? knitting bag? crochet bag? Any other ideas?

Cindy Bee

Waiting.....for a visitor

I asked a neighbor the other day if I could come back on Thursday and pick some flowers for my house? Sure she said...and make sure you get some of the ferny leaves from the cosmos for filler.

So yesterday I went to get some flowers...and another neighbor watched...like I was stealing them! Awwwkward.

I brought them home to put in vases around the house.

Here's the way I think....if I have pretty flowers all over the house, the dirt and mess won't be noticed so much! What do you think? Good plan?

And by the way...which do you like best, the dark blue vase, or the ball jar vase? Because I've decided of all decor in my house, I like the flowers in the vases the best. So I'm thinking of getting rid of everything else when I move, just having family pics of vacays and such on the walls and flowers in vases for the decor.

But back to my plan.... You see, my cousin from Texas is coming to stay with us and I haven't seen her in over 30 years!

Her arrival is sometime today. Aren't these key-limes cute?

And this....pretty pink frosty mug...goes great with those key limes

and this beer!

I love the pink and green together

don't you?

So the house is as good as it's gonna get,

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my cousin,

and relaxing when I probably should be cleaning!

Cindy Bee

Granny Bees and Honey Bees

Remember this from the making splits post?

Remember this from the Making Splits post?

When I visited the rug hooking class, I brought some of it for the women to try. Raw honey, right out of the hive. Not something you get to taste every day.



Barb said it was much sweeter than what she bought from me last fall. I explained that honey in the spring is made from the nectar of lighter colored blossoms such as fruit trees, locust trees, etc. (think spring colored blossoms), while honey in the fall is made from nectar from fall colored flowers such as goldenrod, (fall colored blossoms). The lighter flowers have a sweeter taste. We've used spring honey in place of syrup on pancakes before. The yellow flowers have a stronger flavor.

feral woman a had a very good question from my post on splits that I thought I'd answer on here. She asked me if the bees will make a new queen from the brood that I transferred to the empty hives. Yes amazingly they will. Honey bees are just as creative as the Granny Bees! They will feed some of those brood cells royal jelly and out of that brood will emerge a queen. However, the queen must leave the hive. This is the one time the queen leaves the hive on her own, and it's to get mated. She goes out of the hive, and mates with a drone (male bee - and folks, that's pretty much all drones are good for!) If all goes well, and she doesn't get eaten by a robin, she comes back to the hive and starts laying eggs...lots and lots of eggs. And she will never see the light of day again unless she swarms. Thanks feral woman for the question.

Cindy Bee

Granny Bees

I thought I'd show you some pics of things that some of the talented women I hang with have made. This group is known as The Granny Bees.

This cable knit sweater was a work in progress when I took this pic, but it's now done.

Blog stalker Beth P. can finish a project like this in a few days. Rumor is she can knit in the dark.

knitted lamb with shawl...I want a shawl like that! I believe BP made this too.

fingerless mitts - RJ were those yours?

grannies by RJ

hexagons by Margaret

Then, last week on Wednesday and Thursday, Ali Strebel came to our town and taught a rug hooking class including several applique' techniques. I didn't take the class, but I stopped by to say hi and visit a bit. This was one of the pattern choices. I didn't get a pic of the other one, or the completed projects...did anyone complete them?

And these are some of the rug hooking and applique' projects that these women brought for show and tell.

This is something I made...

No silly, not the whole thing...just this little scrabble bunny tile. (calm down Blog Stalker KE...I wasn't going to take credit for your bunny!)

Talented ladies, huh?

Cindy Bee

Dog Days of Summer

It is SO HOT OUT. Yes that says 103!


It's way too hot for this hat...weird...a person shouldn't be wearing this hat any time of the year anyway? BTW-I'm going to start a new blog post now and then called....Really?!??!! or maybe Seriously people??? And hatwoman is my first pic for it.

It's too hot for this job! And really...is that hard hat going to help him if he falls?

I Love Summer. I do. Seriously, if someone wrote a book titled "Winter" I doubt I'd buy it. But I bought this fun book a couple of years ago, just because I love Summer. Does anyone besides me think the weather has gone totally wacko?

All I want to do is sit in this chair. But I can't because it's not mine. It's at a store. I think I'll paint mine this color though. I like it. My friend RJ decided the decorating style in my new house will be Pond Chic. Nice huh? Can't be coastal because we don't live on a coast, can't be lake house style we don't have a lake.

We have a pond. Hence, Pond Chic. And this is how we cool off in our pond...

Winston wouldn't leave the shore until Dave took him out and had him swim a little at a time.

Now we can't keep him out of the pond.

He loves it.

How do you stay cool

in 103 degree weather?

Cindy Bee

Showing some thigh!

Don't get all excited here...I'm gonna show you some thigh. And hold the comments, please!
When I was in my hive the other day, I got stung on my leg, through my jeans. I would like to explain that this...

is what it looks like when you get stung by a stinging insect. It is NOT an allergic reaction. It is a normal reaction to the venom the insect injected into my body, and it itches like crazy.
This...

is a normal reaction if you're a weenie, but not allergic! You'll go to bed, raise your leg, and act like you're gonna die, whine a lot, and get a lot of attention, so you'll stay like this for a long time. All afternoon if that's what it takes to continue getting sympathy and attention!

The main reason for this post is this....the swelling, itchy, red reaction is NOT an allergic reaction. And if you are allergic, you best be carrying an epi-pen. It is your responsibility to carry an epi-pen if you are allergic, because there are thousands of stinging insects in this country/world. And if you are truly allergic, then here is what will happen. You might go into anaphylaxis, in which case you will not be able to breath. Other allergic reactions are flushing, apprehension, tachycardia, thready or unobtainable pulse associated with a fall in blood pressure, convulsions, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, involuntary voiding, wheezing, due to laryngeal spasm, rashes, and a couple of other things I cannot pronounce and have no idea what they are, and death.

I do have a friend that gets a rash. This rash is different than the one I showed you above. It's more of a poison ivy type rash and it spreads. If you are allergic to honey bees you are probably allergic to hornets, yellow jackets, wasps, stinging ants, and many other insects. Be responsible for yourself and carry an epi-pen. Those insects are everywhere.

My thigh itched like hell for a few days. I could have taken a benadryl but didn't. I decided to tough it out. Dixie, on the other hand, took 1/4 of an adult benadryl, Veterinarian's orders!

Lastly, let me say if you do get stung, DO NOT PULL THE STINGER OUT. Instead, take a sharp object and scrape it off, not out. If you pull it out, you will open up the little bulb at the end of this stinger that is holding more venom. It will go right into your system and you'll itch a whole lot more.

Cindy Bee

Making Splits

Last Friday I decided to get into one of my hives in my back yard, in town. I'm way behind in beekeeping.

Vinh was here, and he said he'd help me.

I told him to get a Tyvek suit and cut it to make it fit.

It was hilarious watching him walk in this. I couldn't stop laughing!

When we opened this hive, I was shocked. It's the fullest I've ever seen a hive. It has three supers on it (the smaller boxes) and two hive bodies (the larger boxes) and every frame was FULL.

When I went to life out a frame, it was so heavy and full of honey the top bar came off of it.

That honey is now on my kitchen table - as is - YUM.

Vinh said this is possibly the bravest thing he's ever done. He's been in hives with me a couple of times, but if you look closely you will see bees flying all around him. His older brother has helped me in my hives a lot.

I took some frames with brood, honey, and bees and moved them to two empty hives on our farm. And I put empty frames back in the hive, so I've given these bees a lot more room. They were way too crowded.

If only I had this problem with all of my hives........

Cindy Bee