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...