Back to Crochet

With all the talk of crochet on the various blogs I've been reading, I am finding myself wanting to pick it up again. I learned how when I was rather young and haven't done it much lately. I made a whole bunch of afghans while I was in high school and there was even a picture of me crocheting in one of my yearbooks. Everyone thought it was funny, but it was something to do and could easily be carried around. I spent most of my study halls crocheting or reading.

This afghan is something that I started in college. I was thinking about marriage and wanted to make it for our first home. I had chosen a rather small, lacy stitch and started it out making it as wide as my full-sized bed and planned to make it large enough to cover it. It took forever! I soon discovered that it would take way more yarn than I thought as well and would end up being rather expensive. I got bored with it after awhile. I think that one skein of yarn only ended up producing about 8 rows (only a couple inches tall).

Its been riding around in our car for awhile now. I thought I would work on it on trips. It just hasn't happened. So finally I took it out the other day and quickly used up the last skein of yarn that I know that I have. I tried looking around the house to see if there are any other skeins lurking about and haven't found any yet. It still nowhere near the size of the bed, but its a nice throw size. I think I will call it finished, tie it off, and start cleaning it up. The poor thing needs to be washed now. It has had pop spilled on it at one point and its got some candle wax dripped into it. All of which can be fixed. Its washable wool, so I will have to clean it up and then pop it into the washer. Hopefully it will survive!

Meanwhile, I've dragged out some of my pattern books for crochet and have started thinking about making a lacy ivory baby blanket with a nice brown ribbon weaved on the edges. Oh wait. I'm trying to finish already started projects. Ooops.

I love fluffy white towels

Mom has asked me for a set of towels for her, so I picked some up yesterday and sat down to monogram them this evening. I wouldn't mind some different style monograms, but I haven't found any other fonts that have really struck my fancy yet. I'll have to do some more hunting. But anyway, my husband was quite sure that these ought to have just a single initial monogram on them and Mom was open to anything. So this is what I did. I love the white and slate blue! Its so me! I hope Mom will like them.

Chair Seats

I've been meaning to do this for a little while, but I've just now gotten around to recovering the seat on this chair with my new favorite fabric - the chocolate & ivory damask.

I want to put it everywhere, but for now, I am just planning on recovering an old footstool in it as well. In the meantime, I will be admiring my chair. I love this chair. I picked it up at a garage sale for $5 the year we were first married. I really need to get back out and explore the sales this spring!

50's Housewife?

I bought an apron pattern a little while ago and never got around to trying it. I gave into temptation and bought some Freshcut fabric to try it with. I finally started it on Monday night. I don't know what my problem is, but I never seem to completely understand pattern instructions, but it turned out fine. It just took me more time than I think it should have. It has a sort of v-neck to it with a flounce. Its rather cute, but I may put this on Etsy and see if anyone is interested in it.

The End is Near

Okay, not really. Perhaps the end of yo-yo making for the immediate future. I have just one more fabric to go (the red striped), but I wanted to use it for binding as well, so I hate to start cutting until I know what I need for binding, which means I need to decide how big to make the quilt.

So after badgering my husband to help me count them all, I discovered that I had 365 already done. I am figuring on getting around 35 out of the striped fabric at least, so I can do a 20 x 20 square of yo yos with a nice wide border around the edges.

One every two inches seems to dense and one every 3 inches too sparse. So, one every 2 1/2" it is. I tried spacing one row out and then laying the rest out in a grid just to get the idea of it in my head (must see - I am a visual person). That's tedious, but here it is. Its not the final layout or anything and I didn't make any attempt to make them random. I'll obsess over that later.

So that makes this a 50" square before borders. That seems like an okay size. I don't need anything huge. I just hate making things too small just because I'm too lazy to keep going. It just doesn't seem big enough laying there on the floor. Maybe I'm crazy.

Nothing new

I haven't been doing anything exciting, so I've had nothing in particular to post about. Like I said earlier, my college roommate was here this weekend, and so I had to get caught up on my cleaning and work after she left. I did make a bazillion more yo-yos over the weekend, but there's nothing to look at there, but a growing pile of them.

This morning, I decided to try making the Chocolate Sugar Cookies that were in Martha Stewart Living's March issue. They turned out pretty well. I may bake them a bit less next time, since I didn't make them nearly as large as the recipe called for. But I took a picture and I was all proud of myself how it turned out. I should really get a tripod and practice more.

Hand Towels

My roommate from college is coming to vist tomorrow, so what am I doing? Monogramming new hand towels for myself, of course. What else would a logical person be doing?? They're in my favorite colors. Yeah!

YO YO

I'm still plugging away on the Yo Yo's. I've got a hundred or so finished already. They really don't require too much time. I need to figure out how far apart I will space them and what size quilt I want. I don't think I bought enough fabric.

Oh, and my link down below to the Sturbridge Yankee quilt has changed from red to pink and the quilt itself has disappeared from their website. I'm liking the pink. How cute. Now I might have to make a baby quilt out of pink. Ah, the many plans that I have in my head. I'm a crazy idiot.

Still more aprons. . .

I'm an apron fool, apparently.

I made a couple more this past week. Matching aprons for my sister and the guy she's dating. Then one for my Husband, who turned 29 this past week. Wahoo!

Marble Magnets

Yeah, yeah, from what I've heard this is soooo over. But I've never tried it, so for me its new. I made some marble magnets today. They're cute! I made two dozen and then I realized that i only had 12 magnets. Oh well. I'll just have to buy more magnets! I'll probably need several sets just for myself, right??

Yo Yo Quilt

So I found a bunch of red & white prints at JoAnns this week and I was pleasantly suprised by the selection! I bought half yards of 8 prints and I had 2 already. I hope that will be enough? We'll see. It remains to be seen what sort of attention span I have for these. That may determine the size of the quilt!

I will say that the yo yo makers seem to work well. It seems like it would be difficult to hold the fabric circles by themselves and sew stitches. Having it in the little disk is easy. You just put the fabric in face down, cut around and sew around the circle in the arcs. Pop it out and pull the string tight and knot it. That's it! Relatively quick and painless. I'm thinking its a perfect TV-watching thing to work on. My husband hates when I run the sewing machine during a movie!

Oh, and I found another place selling what appears to be the same quilt as Gooseberry Patch's yo yo quilt. Its at Sturbridge Yankee Workshop. They call it the lollipop quilt and wow, is it ever expensive! But it comes in all the standard sizes. I suppose it would cost at least that much to make such a quilt if you factor in the time spent, though. Just won't be buying one for myself. I'll try to drive myself crazy by making one, instead. It sure is cute!

Yo Yo Mania?

I got my Yo Yo makers on Saturday and am just sitting down to try them out. Let me just say that the small ones much smaller than I expected. They're tiny! Well, about the size of a quarter. I think they are very cute, but I won't be making a quilt out of that size! I think perhaps they could be added as adorable flower accents to baby quilts or something. Now to start collecting my red/white fabrics.

Tulips

I found cute little bundles of tulips at WalMart last week that were only $2.25 for a little bundle. Of course, I had to have some. A girl needs flowers in winter!

These candles say Beach

At least I hope so. My parents are going to be going on vacation this coming week and they'll be at the beach. I'm sitting here in cold, snowy Pittsburgh wishing I were going with them. So I am making a bunch of candles to look a bit "beachy" for my fireplace.

More Monograms

Today, I did another set of towels.

Yo-Yo Makers

Ha ha ha. I gave in and bought both sizes of Clover Yo-Yo Makers from Quilt in a Day. Shipping was rather cheap, which pleased me. I hate excess shipping charges.

New Project

Here's a sneak peek of my new project. I started this this week and its been slow going with a bunch of tiny pieces in multiple prints. Just my thing. It requires some attention to make it truly random, but I love the effect.

Coasters

I saw this post over on Monogram Momma's the other day. I like this idea for coasters. Seems like maybe Martha was doing this recently too. I may have to do this one. I'm thinking a lovely black and white damask print. Yum.

Pretty Little Things on Martha

Did you happen to catch Martha today? There was a girl on there demonstrating a fabric portrait of her frenchie, Matilda. It was cute! She has a website and an Etsy shop, where you can purchase a giclee print of the portrait.

Sluggish

I'm having such a hard time getting anywhere these days. I think that all the busyness is catching up with me. I spent the whole day at home today with my husband, since it is his day off, and we did nothing but laundry and cooking and a bit of cleaning really. I struggled with what to do with myself until about 4:00 and I finally sat down to sew. Tiny pieces that took forever to put together. At least I've got a project, though. I'm just feeling guilty that it is a new project rather than an old one. Oops.

I found something else I want to make. Its this Red Yo-Yo Quilt from Gooseberry Patch.

Why, you ask? I have no idea. Why torture myself with another never-ending project? Cause its adorable!

You do realize, though, that this will require that I purchase the Clover Yo-Yo Makers. In both sizes. Cause I might change my mind about the size I want.

Oh, and while I was there to find the picture, I also found this quilt that I love. Its very similar to one that I've already made (in the Gingham Rose fabrics by 3 Sisters). But its my very favorite. Again, I don't know why. It just is.

Linens

This is all I've managed to accomplish really (outside of my real job, that is). Its a lovely monogram on floursack kitchen towels in cream thread. How pretty is that? I really like it. Sorta looks like vintage linens.

I obviously have no talent for photographing white. Must work on that.

The World's Shortest Attention Span

I think I have it. The world's shortest attention span, that is. I have been trying to write down some plans for the new year - not resolutions - just plans. I am realizing just how many projects I have planned or started and not finished.

Here's just a few:

I have a red & white quilt that I'm hand quilting. It was started 2 years ago and is approximately half way done. I work on it in fits and starts.

I have one more of those little Tudor Rose patchwork quilts to quilt. There were 4 altogether and I did one when I first bought the fabric and 2 during this past year. Must finish the 3rd.

I have a green & white quilt that is quilted & bound and just needs the centers of the circles handquilted with a "loop" motif in them (since I can't do it by machine).

I have a halfway quilted Summer Wind quilt that needs to be finished. Again, my quilting dreams are ahead of my quilting abilities and its stalled me.

I have a blue & green quilt started that need to be basted and quilted. I've been carrying that around in my trunk for months, as I really need to do it at my parents, since I don't have the space to do it here. I haven't felt like basting it the last several times I've been up there so it just continues to ride around.

I have a quilt started in 2 shades of blue. I suppose there's about 4 blocks finished? Need to work on that.

See - how terrible is this?? I also have a half-finished scarf laying beside the couch. Can't decide what size needles I really want to use to make it with. I have a beautiful robin's egg blue jute fabric that i want to make bags out of, but I can't decide what to use for handles. I have a half-finished sage green one for the same reason. I have a beautiful chocolate damask fabric laying here to make myself an apron out of. I have leftover fabric from the aprons that I made for Christmas presents that I should use up for half aprons and potholders and list on Etsy.

Can you tell I'm also indecisive?

Maybe writing it down will help me start knocking it off.

Down with the sickness

Oh my word. I got a nasty cold on Monday and it just won't go away. I feel lousy. It is just a cold, after all, but my nose is stuffy & running and I'm sneezy and my eyes are watering nonstop. Blah. I've done very little. So here's another picture from Phipps.

Phipps Favorites

Here's another favorite from Phipps Conservatory.

This is another living wreath and I can't for the life of me remember what its made of. Its the same genus of plant

that is sphagnum moss (which is the dead plant dried up).

Last of the Aprons

So I gave all my aprons for Christmas and they were well-received. My neices, though, were funny. You can't read them when they open gifts. They seemed to like them and I saw one of them running her fingers over her name on the front, tracing the letters, but I can never tell for sure. But my sister-in-law said that when they were going home, one of them said to her: "Grandma and Aunt Val and Aunt Carol must be awful tired." "Why?" she asked her. "Because they must have spent sooooo much time getting us the perfect presents." She's 6. That totally cracks me up.

Christmas Goodies

This is what I spent my Christmas Eve and Christmas doing. My husband had to work both nights, so I baked my little heart out.

First, a couple batches of cream puffs filled with a mixture of whipping cream and pastry cream and peppermint.
Then, I made a couple batches of cinnamon rolls - one for him to take to work with him and another to take to my parents (we went up on Tuesday).

Last, I made one batch of lady locks but that makes a million of the little buggers.

Then, I made myself some Orange/Pineapple/Banana Slush and had some shrimp.

That, I can share with you. You mix up a can each of frozen OJ and frozen pineapple juice and blend in 3 bananas and freeze. When you're ready to serve, you let it thaw for awhile. I scrape it with an ice cream scoop and put it into big glasses and mix it up with 7-Up Plus (the kind with only 8 calories or something). Yum yum.

As you can imagine, I've stuffed myself silly for about a week with all the baking and then the family get-togethers. I'm in detox now that I'm home and I'm warily eyeing my treadmill. I'll will have to make better friends with it soon.

More Phipps Love

Another favorite from Phipps Conservatory for your enjoyment.

Presents Are DONE!

I'm finally done with all of my Christmas presents. Now I need to make lists of everything that I need to take to Mom's, or I'll forget.


And get on the baking. My husband informed me today that I need to make sure to send in two plates of cinnamon rolls for Christmas day so both his shift and the one after can have them. Oh, and chocolate chip cookies. Pbtht. Spoiled man, he is.


I also want to make peppermint cream filled cream puffs, lady locks & cinnamon rolls for Mom's. We won't be able to go up on Christmas Day, but we'll go the day after and stay for several days.

This is my tree with the presents wrapped and waiting. I made some glitter monogram tags for them. They didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, but they're still cute. I'll have to try it again and perfect my technique.

The last of the potholders

I've actually gotten tired of the potholders. But these are the last. Today I think I will start wrapping up the gifts so that I have pretty packages under my tree.

Phipps love

Today, my husband and I went to Phipps Conservatory for the first time. I wasn't sure how great it would be because sometimes these types of places charge an arm & a leg and it just isn't worth it. This was. I was in heaven. I need beauty and flowers like air and this was fresh air to me!

This was one of my favorite shots. This is a living wreath out of begonias, I think. I'll upload more now and then. I took over a hundred.

Black & White Potholders

Set 2 of who knows how many??

These are for Mom & Dad.

On a completely unrelated note, my husband heard from a friend that one of the houses that we made an offer on this summer is being sold again because the owner just got a new job. I don't know whether or not to be excited . . . I want to be, but we spent all year looking for a house and haven't had any luck yet. Its such a big decision but we are so ready to buy a place of our own.

Now on to Potholders!

I thought I'd use up some of the extra fabric and make some matching potholders to go with all the aprons. We'll see if I have enough time! Speaking of time, hand sewing binding on these buggers takes forever. There has to be a better way, right?

They did turn out well, though. These are Grandma's.

Even more aprons

How 'bout these ones? They are for my neices. Having no children of my own, I have no concept of what size they ought to be. I got some dimensions from online places selling children's aprons to get an idea of what size they should be. Hope I'm right! They're cute anyway!

3D Paper Snowflakes

I found this link to make 3D paper snowflakes a little bit ago and of course, I had to sit down and make a couple instead of working on the aprons that I have to finish for Christmas.

Anyway, this large one is 22" across! But it is rather fast and easy to make.

The little one is 5 1/2" across and is a bit more difficult and time consuming and how do you staple something so small anyway?

Try it.