I am enjoying retirement very much. Not only have I been taking classes, but I, finally, have the time to indulge in some play time. In this case, it’s building the Lego kits that I had purchased but never had time to build.

The first thing I want to show you is the Vespa.

And, yes, our library, also, has become our Lego/model building area. I really enjoyed this build. The attention to detail that is in this kit is amazing. And the best part yet?

It’s the perfect size for 11.5 inch dolls. Leia and Michelle love the freedom they have with their fancy ride. They have earned the name of “The Trouble Makers” honestly. They can be found zipping around the halls of the house and you never know where you will find them.

I loved building this kit so much that I decided to build it again, but this time using parts of whatever color I could find. Let me introduce the Junk Vespa.

Searching for the right parts in spare parts bins at the local Half Price Books, It’s A Block Party in Greenwood, Indiana, and a few special ones that I could find locally off of Bricklink. It’s 95% from the spare parts bins, though. Lordy, I love this thing so much. It makes me smile just looking at it. Two more dolls have claimed this one. Besties Lamily and Lynn have been riding it to and from the fitness center each day and have been having fun annoying The Trouble Makers with their brightly colored version of the fancy one.

This summer, Scott and I took two classes. The first one was colored pencils and this is the best of my practice results. The rest looked like a kindergartener reject.

The top pear is the photograph and the bottom pear is my version of it. I felt like I was finally getting my head wrapped around how to use colored pencils and the blender, which, by the way, was my favorite thing learned in this class. While I am glad I took this course, I have decided that colored pencils are not for me. It was a bucket-list item for me, and I have it checked off.

The second class, though, I absolutely loved!!! It was clay sculpture. I started with coil building and created this:

It’s wonky and the lid doesn’t fit it very well, but this gnome house is delightfully organic and I love it to no end. The father and son gnomes who live here think it’s perfect, and that’s good enough for me.

The second gnome house I made was slab built, and this one came out much better.

The lid is the second floor, which overhangs the first floor on purpose, just like medieval houses did. There’s a secret hidey-hole in the ceiling of the second floor for special bits of junk the gnome family might collect. There are four of this family, and the wife is the daughter of the old man who lives next door. Sometimes that feels a little close for her taste, but what can one do, really?

The last builds are this dog and chicken house for the two families to share.

I would be happy to take this class over and over just to be able to build gnome houses. Another bucket-list item.

I just keep adding more free cross stitch patterns for you to enjoy. The newest two are Seesaw and Roundabout. Just click on Patterns on the top of the page, then go to Mandala Cross Stitch.

Two new cross stitch patterns have been uploaded – http://www.benitastory.com/patterns/mandala-cross-stitch

The new patterns are Compass

and In & Out and Up & Down

I really hope you enjoy them!!!

I added links to my videos on natural dyeing, including prepping wool and cellulose fibers for dyeing.

I added a background based on the color theory quilt I recently finished. Also, I have added another cross stitch pattern and images for the video links.

I have uploaded seven free sock patterns and three free cross stitch patterns today. I intend these patterns to be free for the foreseeable future, although I reserve the right to put these in the store later on sometime. So, download them for free while you can. Just look in the links along the top, go to the page with the pattern you want, and click on the pattern name to download the pattern for free. As a bonus, the fair isle sock patterns contain a story that follows the pattern and you knit. Enjoy!!

I wrote a novel called A Patchwork Life.

Newly widowed Sharon Emmons inherits the farm she considered to be her real home as a child. Moving back to the farm, restoring, and renewing it becomes her new life – with lots of quilts included.

Most of the “stories” in this novel are based on real life events as experienced by the author, her friends, and family members. Listening to the different tales of past times provided a never-ending source of entertainment and the desire that they wouldn’t be forgotten. If you love the books by James Herriot and Mary J. MacLeod, then you will love this novel.

So, grab a cup of coffee, a piece of apple pie, wrap up in your favorite quilt, and enjoy A Patchwork Life.

The cover of this novel is a quilt created by the author specifically for this book. To watch the video on the quilt’s creation, Click on A Patchwork Life Book Cover Quilt

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It has been a while since I had a website, and, now that I am retired from my day job, I felt it was time to start the next chapter in my life. And, I want to bring you along!

This website will showcase my videos, projects (of which there are many and varied), as well as links to my novel and other sites that house my creations.

I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I do.