Saturday, March 24, 2012

New Tablecloth

I should have been washing the dishes. I should have been scrubbing the bathrooms. I should have been cleaning the floors......but instead, since it was such a beautiful morning on Wednesday, I decided I needed something spring like.
I had a 40% off coupon for JoAnn's so I went there to find "something" to make a tablecloth.
This fabric totally spoke to me. I LOVE the colors and the flowers and just everything about it.
90 minutes later.....I had a new tablecloth. I used it last night for knit night at my home. The second knit night - we are meeting monthly and it is so much fun!!! We are calling it knit night, but some of the ladies crochet, one does scrap booking, another brought her sewing machine and still another brought nothing - she just wanted to "chill". SO MUCH FUN!! I can't wait for next month - maybe it will be warm enough to sit outside :o)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday Tallies

This week was not quite as productive as last week. Lots of other fun stuff going on - science fair for the 1st and 4th graders to name one - the projects are fun, but the write up (especially for the 1st grader) takes a lot of work.
My 7 hexies. Also, these hexies with added elements take quite a bit longer to make than the other ones!!
This is my favorite of the bunch. I will definitely make more of these!
This one is ok. I liked the duplicate stitch stem and leaf, but the rose is a little wonky. It sticks out a bit more than I would like. I might try one more just to see if I can get it to look a bit better.
This one I don't like at all. It is MUCH bigger than the others and I really don't like the "holes" where the stuffing is showing through. The pattern for this is well written and easy to to follow - I might try it again in much smaller yarn and a smaller hook. Just to see if I can get it right.
I am on the fence about this one. My dh says that I should make the ruffles shorter - not have them go all the way to the ends of the hexie. He thinks that will look better. I don't know. Maybe. Will have to give it a try.
7 squares for the Gingerbread Bear Afghan
7 more kites. I almost just kept knitting on this. I like just pulling out a ball of yarn from the box and adding it in anywhere I choose. Plus, knitting these takes no brain power at all and sometimes that is just what I need!!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

T-Shirt Quilt Finished!!

My dh had his birthday over the weekend and we celebrated with the whole family. My mom and sister and her kids came over as well as my in-laws - it was such a fun time.
My husband asked me to make lasagne - one of his favorites - so that's what he got. I forgot how good lasagne is!
Bean salad
Homemade bread
AND individual mint ice cream and chocolate cakes for dessert!
I wanted to do something fun for my husband instead of just wrapping his gift. So....I made lots (12 in total) of these cards you see above.
This was the top card that he received
This is the inside. Then he opened the gift and this is what he found...
Another layer of wrap...
With this note attached.
Then he opened the orange one and this zebra one presented itself....
With this card.
And more wrapping.....
And another card.
The last layer of wrap....
Revealed this note. He proceeded to the 12 yo's room and opened those gifts and promptly found another note...
Sending him on to the 7 yo's room. There he found a gift and yet another note.....
Onward to the 10 yo's room with more gifts and another note....
Obviously he was starting to figure out that he was going to have to go to each kid's room to find the last gift.
Ah...the last room! This note was on her bed...
But wait....it wasn't on the bed...now what?
FINALLY!!
He was thrilled with the quilt. And he loved that it was made from his old running shirts. This was such a pleasure to make, all the time thinking about him and how much he was going to like it. He has already been using it - every night when we sit and watch our shows after the kids go to sleep, he wraps himself in it.
The whole front. Each of the kids signed a square.
The back. I have really enjoyed making quilts this past month and boy have I learned a lot! I can't wait to start a new one - I already have a couple of ideas......

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

One-a-Day Tallies

This week was a really good knitting/crochet week! Soccer games started with scrimmages each an hour and a half. 3 hours of good knitting time!! Also, the first grader still reads to me for 30-45 minutes EVERY day - he is getting more and more confident, though so that knitting time is soon to disappear. It's ok if he's still reading to me when he is...oh....say...23, right??
Without further ado, I show you 7 more hexi puffs!
7 more squares for the Gingerbread Bear Afghan
More kites - now these are truly addictive. The smaller ones are approximately 500 stitches to make, while the larger one is 2,000 stitches to make, so therefore the larger one should count as 4 kites. BUT I just couldn't stop, so I present 1 large kite and not 4 smaller ones, but..
5 smaller ones - see that orange one with the stitch marker on it? That one is new also! That brings the tally (if you count the large one as 4) up to 9 kites. WAHOO!!
This is the whole thing - I do think it is wide enough - now I just keep building up until I think it is long enough. If I keep going this way, it will be done in no time at all!!
Because I was on a roll, I pulled out the Whirly Gig that has been languishing for a LONG time and started work on it. This hexagon was done, but not sewn up, so I finished that in short order.
I went on to make another one because I figured that since each hexagon is made up of 6 wedges, if I added it to my one-a-day projects, I would complete more than 1 of them a week.
Then I just couldn't stop at one wedge, it just looked so lonely all by itself! So three more wedges were made.
Here are all of them together. I just love the way the colors meld into one another. I need 33 of these puppies and then they need to be sewn together. If I keep up with 1 hexagon and a bit more each week it shouldn't take all that long to finish it up! Although finishing is not my strong point - think of the fish blanket!
THEN, I wanted to try out a new crochet pattern that I had found on the internet a little while back. I printed out the pattern for it and put it in the "I Love This and must do it soon" pile. That pile is just way, way, too big :o) Thank goodness for Pinterest - now instead of printing these out, I just pin them!
All the yarn is left over from the Granny Stripe Afghan except for the white which I just had to have for these squares. You know, they would have looked so weird with a different color in that spot!
I made 7 of them and love them to bits! The pattern is called "Circle-y Granny" and if you click on the name it will bring you to the pattern. The pattern is super easy and really well written. I made the first one without a hitch and did not even have to rip at all. If you have been reading this blog for even a little bit, you know that almost all of my projects need to be ripped back at some point. These are not slated to become a blanket. I think a pillow for my couch will be perfect!! See you soon!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Popsicle Stick Dolls

My 13 year old daughter pulled out a couple of our art bins over the weekend and whipped these up!! She was done with her homework and we were just hanging out for a bit trying to decide what to do.
This is what she came up with!!



I don't know why I get such a kick out of these ones in bikinis, but I do. She is way more creative than I will ever be. But now I have another idea for the kids at noon art :o)

See more finishes over at Tami's.