odds and ends

Between secret projects (it's that time of the year!), & busy days (again, it's that time of the year) I haven't had a lot to share here. I did finish up a Lola Pouch to gift to a friend on her birthday...

Today I put together this awesome spider web block. a bee block for my pal Joy. This was really fun. Added a new technique to the arsenal. I can't wait to see a whole quilt made up of these blocks!

also, it didn't even make a dent in my scrap bin, oh well!

And because I've been feeling overwhelmed with a long to do list and the holidays zooming upon us, I started a new crochet project. As we do. I decided to try out the groovy ghan pattern and it's really easy and cool. I'm having a little trouble keeping the side edges even, but I figure a good border will cover that up in the end. Using scrap yarn on this one...

I hope you're having a crafty weekend!

Intrepid thread challenge

In September I signed up for a fabric challenge over at Intrepid Thread. By the time the fabric came I had forgotten all about it! Ha. The fabric sat on my table for quite a long time waiting for me to be inspired. Suddenly, yesterday, I knew what I wanted to do! 

I worked all day and this little pillow came to life! I made a patchwork background from the mini charm pack we received, then used the other 2 fabrics to appliqué some orange peels. I had cut enough orange peels to do every square, but when I started to edit, and remove some, I liked it better! Sometimes less is more. 

I had enough cotton and steel fabric to do the back, with a little binding of the arrow fabric and a touch of ricrac peeking out, because, RICRAC! duh!

I wasn't sure where I'd put it, I mean, aqua goes ANYWHERE, right? But the pink was throwing me off. Then I put it on the living room chair for a photo op and it looked so awesome there with my Spice of Life afghan! So, I do believe that's where it will stay. For now....

Perfect spot to curl up with a good book I think!

Spice of Life CAL - Finished!

Well hello there! Remember me? Sorry I disappeared yet again. I'm full of excuses. First there was the torrential rain last weekend that totally prevented decent photo shoots for several posts I had planned. Then, on Monday, just when the sunshine returned, my gall bladder decided it was time to come out! Whoa. That laid me up for a few days (while the sun continued to shine.) Yesterday I finally began to feel human again! And, you guessed it, I woke up to gray skies and buckets of rain! Sigh..... So, indoor, gloomy photos it is! Sorry they will have to do!

Several days on the couch was just the excuse I needed to finish up my Spice of Life crochet along afghan. The only way to show you how enormous mine ended up is to spread it on my queen sized bed.....

58 X 88 way bigger than it's supposed to be!

Why did it end up so big, you ask? Great question. Did I add extra stitches to the rows? No. Did I add extra rows? No. Did I use US stitches instead of the required UK stitches? Indeed I did not. It's a mystery! But the fact of the matter is, the tension is even, it's gigantic and I love it.

It has found a happy landing spot on the back of one of our pretty chairs in the front room. I suspect it will wander into the family room on chilly evenings this winter. Seriously, it's big enough to keep hubby and I both warm!

I love the pretty soft green border (I had to buy another skein of light green yarn to complete it!) In fact, I love everything about this beautiful blanket. I'm so thankful to Sandra of Cherry Heart Crochet who created the lovely pattern, for her easy to follow directions, and the fabulous community of women she created on Facebook, Instagram and Ravelry to share our fun with. If you want to see more of these, check out #spiceoflifecal. It's wonderful how each afghan has a personality of it's own! I would love to make another someday soon.

And then there are the balls of leftover yarn from my blanket. What to do? I decided a simple double crochet (US) striped blanket would be the perfect way to use it up. And so I have begun....

flea market finds

Sorry for the little blog break. Although I've putzed around in my studio a bit this week, most of my creative time has been spent on my Spice of Life Crochet along blanket...

It's long enough to keep my toes warm while I work now (not that Texas temperatures require it but still). There are LOTS of rows to do this week so I'm madly crocheting away.

I did take time out to go to the McKinney Trade Days (flea market) today with my buddy Joellen. I have a real love for vintage linens and these beauties came home with me....

Two sweet hankies and two colorful tea towels. All were very reasonably priced and I couldn't resist them! I also have a love for milk glass, and added these two awesome pieces to my tiny (but growing!) collection...

it was a fun day for sure! Now back to my crochet....

Spice of Life CAL part 4

I've completed another week of the Spice of Life Crochetalong & I must say, I am loving this more and more each week!

That makes  67 rows done and my afghan measures 38 inches long so far. Here's a close up of this week's new rows...

I am loving experimenting with new stitches! Can't wait until Tuesday...

spice of life cal update

I have to tell you, I am so excited about the Spice of Life crochet along that I bounce out of bed on Tuesday mornings & head straight to my computer for the next set of instructions. This week it took me a whopping 2 days to finish up the new rows....

I'm usually really slow at crochet, so this is amazing to me! This week we added stacked grannys, a zipper section and stacked shells. It's so much fun to see each section come together

I assure you the top row is not ripply, I just didn't lay it flat. oops.

And now I impatiently wait for Tuesday to come again...

spice of life crochet along

Something fun and new for me! I've never done a crochet along before, but when I saw this gorgeous afghan on the Cherry Heart blog it was love at first sight! As soon as we got home from NYC I scurried off to to Hobby Lobby and picked out my colors....

I'm using "I Love This Yarn" I love the way it feels and it was on sale this week. Bonus!

I'm all organized too! I made myself color swatches...

And put together a notebook to put the pattern pages into each week...

When the instructions came out on Tuesday for the first 18 rows, I got right to work. By Wednesday morning I had them finished....

Now I am impatiently waiting for next Tuesday when the next set of instructions is released. I can't wait to see where this goes!

crafting on the road

What do you do when you're away from home for an extended period of time and have lots of down time on your hands as you wait on answers (and hide from the snow?). Well, if you're me, you find some crafty projects and get busy. And you take all of your pictures with your iPhone because, well, your camera is back at home! 

Two more hats have been crocheted for the hat collection at home (actually three. hmmm that third hat didn't make the photo shoot I guess!)

And then my sis requested a hat for a special baby friend of hers. In Ohio State colors of course! After I made the first one (lower) I thought it might be too small, so I made another. Maybe he will get to wear both! I hope so. The free pattern for this hat is here. It's a great pattern in sizes from newborn to adult! There will be more of these.

 I mentioned that I ordered a sewing machine for my sister (ok, it's for me to use now & her to use later!) Well it arrived on Tuesday and despite it's reasonable price it sews just beautifully!

 First up was a pillowcase for Ally in fabrics she had chosen....

What have you been making lately?

Crafty Tuesday and some hats....

Crafty Tuesday happened a week early this month. There were four of us celebrating January or February birthdays which made it extra fun! There was pizza, salad and cupcakes. and quite a few yarn crafts at the table this month.

I've been making hats to donate to kids in our community who need them. This one came out pretty cute...

 But not all of the patterns I've tried have been successes.....

I think I might just keep this headband one for myself....

because I'm heading somewhere cold this week.... stay tuned!

handmade Christmas

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was peaceful and fun. I'm so lucky to have friends and family who spoiled me with many handmade gifts. An assortment of ornaments from sewing friends, coworkers, guild members and blogging friends....

Last Monday when I opened up my locker at work, I found this beautiful little tree complete with handmade tree skirt from my friend Sarah! 

This beautiful Christmas mini, complete with metal hanger, arrived from Maria in Australia....

Ally painted lots of canvases for all of us. Some of mine include these fun emojis (some of our favorites to text to each other) 

And a fun Crafty Tuesday sign....

The biggest surprise from Ally was this beautiful afghan! I had no idea she had learned to crochet while she was away at college. From the looks of this, you'd think she had been crocheting for years. I was thrilled to be the recipient of her very first afghan!

Did you receive handmade gifts this Christmas too? I hope you did!

Happy Birthday Crafty Tuesday!

Today was Crafty Tuesday's second birthday. Any excuse for a party, I always say! Of course there were balloons....

 My crafty friends turned out in full force today, and Melissa took pictures for me. She says I'm never in the pictures and I should be! Grace was crocheting and I was laughing appliquéing.....

Joellen and Raquel were having an intense discussion about english paper piecing. Or working on world peace. Or something....

 Cheryl was drinking soda (to be fair, she did work on her photo albums!) and Trae had a cool art quilt happening (or she was eating a brownie. one or the other)...

 And Melissa was taking pictures, which is why she wasn't in any of these! Then she set the timer on the camera and we got a great group shot. Even Lexi got into the action...

ah I do love our Crafty Tuesdays!

crafty tuesday recap

Yesterday was crafty Tuesday at ellyn's place. I can't believe next month we will celebrate 2 years of crafty Tuesdays! We had lots of fun activities happening.... scrapbook supply sorting/tag making, appliqué, crochet, hexie making....

 We also took some time to celebrate 2 summer birthdays in our crafty group. Now that they've received them, I can share the mini quilts I made for my two pals for their birthdays!

First for Melissa, my sunshine yellow loving, happy friend! A mini dwell by Thimbleblossoms in her favorite colors....

 my favorite part is this silly chick poking through the door....

 And for Joellen, my awesome quilting buddy, my variation on the mini stitch by figtree & co....

Love these gals so much & it was fun to make them each something to hang in their crafty spaces!

going around in circles...

I confess, I am easily distracted! I have a wonderful list of projects to work on, then I see something I like and off I go in a different direction. Recently, Laura over at Love the Bluebird has been crocheting mandalas. First I saw them popping up on her instagram. Hers are sweet and pastel and pretty. I loved them. Started looking up tutorials on Pinterest, checked out some links on her blog. Next thing I knew I was digging in my yarn stash and crocheting in circles! Of course, there are no pastels to be had in my stash. So I started with brights & maybe, just maybe, I will be adding some pretty pastels to my collection (so much for using what you have, right?)

First I whipped up this one (tutorial here)....

 Then this one (tutorial here)....

both were pretty easy and quick to do. I'm a beginner crocheter, even though I've done it for years I never advanced past the basics! The tutorial for the second one was kind of hard to follow but I managed to figure it out!

UPDATE!
I actually found a few pastelly, dainty colors and whipped up a third mandala today! Want to see? of course you do!

This tutorial was really easy to follow and the most fun to make so far! You can find it here, at Attic 24.

This is a bit addictive! Thanks for the inspiration Laura!