Lovely Weekend

Sunday was just beautiful weather wise. It was so warm and sunny. Unfortunately, oldest daughter had to study - what better place to study than outside!! Warm, sunny weather makes AP Chem much more palatable!!

Studying and beading.

Reading - her VERY favorite past time!

I was cleaning and working on a class quilt to be auctioned off at our school auction. The kids came in and dragged me outside to be with them. Boy am I glad I went!! It was so very relaxing to just sit and crochet at the little table they brought out there for me. Hanging out with the girls in the sun was the best thing I could have done! Laundry, dishes, floors, and fabric cutting could all wait..... These was R.E.L.A.X.I.N.G. to be done :o)
Working between beading and writing a story. She said her ideas come to her more freely whens she is working on something else. Like mother, like daughter :o)

More Chem - poor girl

7 more hexis - 28 in all

7 more fish. Last week I laid them all out on the table. Well, not all of them, there were too many. I started arranging them in rows and discovered that I now have 140 fish. Only 40 more to knit less these 7. WOO HOO!!! If I keep up with these Tuesday Tallies, I could be done with the knitting in about 6 more weeks- I just can't believe it!
7 more bear pieces :o) Eyes, nose, parts of ears and face. I had a really hard time with that nose and it is not done as the pattern calls for. I just couldn't figure it out. After a few hours and more rip outs than I could count, I just fudged it and made my own nose square. I might go back in the future and try to make it again, but for now I am happy with this one.

Head on over to Carole's for more Tuesday Tallies.

Reverse Appliqued Pillow

I had been wanting to make one of these pillows for a VERY long time, but had just never done it. I kept putting this idea at the bottom of the stack and just kept thinking about the possibilities. Well.....my 13 year old nephew needed a gift and he is very hard to get things for. He is very logical, super brainy, and very science/math oriented but not into regular kinds of toys - he likes really expensive electronic stuff. Preferably that he can take apart, figure out and put back together again - and he is good!!

When I was racking my brain for a gift, this idea just popped into my head and I thought, "This is perfect!!". I cut one piece of knit jersey into a 36" X 18" rectangle (the grey) and I cut the dark blue jersey into an 18"X18" square.

Pinned the dark blue to the grey and freehand wrote his name on the fabric.

Then I pinned around it with WAY, WAY too many pins and sewed on the lines!! I had to stop pretty much every other stitch or so to take them out, but I was worried about slippage and I didn't want to have to unpick and start over.
The I cut away the dark blue inside the stitching and presto!! A fun pillow for my nephew. I put a 16" pillow form inside and it worked out pretty well. My nephew LOVED it - he carried it around all the time while he was here visiting.

The tutorial I used is here.

For more finished objects, take a look at the wonderful things posted at Tami's.

Gingerbread Bear Progress

I have been working on the Gingerbread Bear Blanket and it is coming along pretty well. I have been making the squares (1 a day) and last week I discovered that I had enough to complete the first section.

I sewed them all together using the whip stitch and this is how they look. He is going to be so cute!!

As you can see from the picture on the pattern, I have completed the section beside and including part of the left ear. I am working on the squares now that include the section with the eyes and the nose. I can't wait to finish that section and get them put together!!

There are other in-progress projects posted over at Tami's. Take a look :o)

Tuesday Tallies

Another week has flown by - It is amazing to me how quickly time seems to be moving lately. I think having these weekly check-ins (and deadlines :o) is helping that feeling right along :o)

7 more hexies - 28 total

7 more fish - ?? total - I need to get that all sorted so I can put some of them together.

7 small grannies - these are for the bear itself - I think I will tackle the eye grannies for this week.

For more "One-a-day Project Tuesday Tallies" head on over to Gingerbread Girl.

Granny Stripe Blanket Finish!!

I am so happy with this blanket!! I started this about two years ago before I knew anything at all about crochet. It is my very first crochet project and the one I learned on. I fell in love with Lucy's blanket and followed her tutorial exactly. I can't tell you how well this worked - her instructions were fabulous and worked perfectly. I took this blanket along with me on camping trips and then it was put aside for other gifty type things and rested there for quite a time. I finally pulled this out about a week ago and to my great and happy surprise, there was not that much left to pull it together and finish it.

It is warm and I love it. I am hard pressed to share it unless I am also under it :o) This blanket measures: 51 1/2" X 58 3/4"
I also followed the edging that Lucy recommended and am so happy with it. I left out a row of double crochet after the light pink color because I wanted to end with the dark purple and only had a bit of that left.

More color!

I am in love with those little picots! And they were so easy to do!

I can't get enough of this blanket!

Final edge picture. For being my very first finished crochet project, I am quite happy with it. It goes to show you how well the pattern was written if a complete beginner can make something like this from it.

Click here for more finishes.

WIP #76

My WIPs have been getting a lot of attention this past week. I find it so hard to see the difference on a cross stitch project though so I am glad that there are before and after photos.

Before

After. I filled in some of the little stitches that were missing and started on the back stitching. It is going slowly, but I am starting to feel that excitement when a big project is nearing it's end. Hopefully lots of progress will be made this week!
This is part of a huge granny square blanket I started a few years ago and then banished it to the box. Do you see a pattern here?? This is what happened to the granny stripe blanket (which is finished except for a few little bits and will be revealed soon!).
I really love these color combinations. This yarn was also used in the granny stripe blanket, but I liked it so much I started this one as well with just these four colors.
This is where I am at now and it will become my new yarny WIP to work on. I'm not quite sure how big it is now, but it is not big enough. My very precise way of measuring these is as follows: crochet (or knit) until said blanket it long enough to reach from my neck to past my toes - then it's done!! How's that for precision :o)

It's time for Tuesday Tallies!

Boy, I am really getting excited about these tallies. I have been able to keep up (so far!) and it feels great!

First up, my hexi puffs - I really like these little guys - they are sooo cute and soft.

Here are all 21 of them together! Such hexi puff greatness :o)

The next 7 fish. I think I need to actually take all of them out and make a count. I only need 180 and I think I might be getting close.
More of the squares for the Gingerbread bear afghan. See those dual colored squares? They were quite the challenge to begin with. I now have enough to put together one little part of the blanket - we'll see if I can get that done this week.
I couldn't resist showing a picture of the 13 year old sewing on her very own sewing machine. We broke down and got her this for the holidays. She has been using mine and also doing quite a bit of hand sewing making clothes for her and her sister's dolls. I love her designs - I will try to get pictures of some of the things she has been coming up with. I can't wait to see what she does next!

Her first finished projects using her machine - little bags for her friends and teachers.

More Tuesday Tally goodness over here.

Fancy Nancy Blanket

When my third daughter who is now 10 was 3 years old, she loved the Fancy Nancy books. These books were so fun to read. Fancy Nancy is a child who uses "big" words in her everyday conversations where she could use smaller words. My daughter got such a kick out of this and we read these books EVERY.DAY.BEFORE.NAPTIME. Did I tell you we read them every day?? I can recite some of them by heart which is amusing to my husband when he would read them before bedtime and I would be in the kitchen reciting right along with him :o)

One of the little cousins was turning 3 and I saw this "no-sew" blanket on sale at JoAnn's. I just had to get it. I have made these before and they a super quick and cute.
I just had to take a picture of the cutting lines!! The ones I had purchased years ago did not have these lines, you had to measure them for yourself. I guess that wasn't easy enough! It did make the blanket go even faster.
Here it is all knotted up and ready to go. I wish there had been one of these when my daughter liked Fancy Nancy. It is fleece and oh so soft and warm. The recipient was thrilled!

We also got her started on her own Fancy Nancy collection :o)

Check out Tami's blog for more finished projects.

Work-In-Progress Wednesday

I am desperately wanting to start on the next Christmas stocking!! Filling in all these little bits and then knowing that the outlining is looming (I know, outlining is a favorite for some :o) is making it very hard to stay focused. But stay focused I did!

Before

After

And then...because I just couldn't stay all THAT focused.....

I pulled out my Granny Stripe Blanket that was started two years ago. It got banished to the box when newer, more shiny projects came my way, but I decided to bite the bullet and just finish it. I had seen so many beautiful granny stripe blankets out there lately that they inspired me to take out mine. Well, lo and behold, there was really not that much to do on it. One last stripe made it the right length and I have been sewing in ends a little at a time. Once the ends are sewn in I will only need to make a border. Whoopee!! It should be finished soon...unless I get distracted again :o)

All piled up in it's Granny Goodness!

16 year old daughter last night said, "WOW! How beautiful, when did you start this one?"

Tuesday Tallies

It is Tuesday once again, and I have faithfully made up my one a day project pieces. I am really loving this way of working (for a whole two weeks now!). When I am done with 7 of one project, I move on to the next and when I am done with all three of my projects, I am free to work on something else. I finished my required pieces two days ago and pulled out the granny stripe afghan from Attic24 and began working on that. Amazingly enough, there was not as much left to do as I thought - weave in the ends and put a border around it - really not that much! I'm not quite sure why it wound up banished to a box?? But without further ado, I present today's tallies:

7 more fish. I think I will start sewing these guys together soon - I have more than 100 of them so far.

7 more hexi puffs - 14 altogether

7 tiny granny squares - 14 altogether - my plan is to sew this together in panels so the next square up for next week will by a two color square. Half one color and half the other. I'm not quite sure how this will work out, but I will fiddle around with the instructions for a bit.

As always, take a look over at Carole's blog for more Tuesday tallies.

Flounce Scarves!

The story: Over the summer we took a 10 day camping trip. First stop was Yosemite for 4 nights, then onto MacGrath Beach near Santa Barbara and then to Ventura Beach near San Louis Obispo. We had such a great time - camping is so fun and it just makes you relax. No electronics available, no specific time to do anything, no places you have to be - AHHHH! Anyway, we chose the beach camping spots so that we could visit a couple of colleges so our oldest daughter would start getting a "feel" of things. UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly were our stops for this trip. Well....no trip is complete without a visit to the local yarn shop. In Santa Barbara, we went into a wonderful little store with a very nice and friendly owner. She had a flounce scarf started and told us how easy and quick these things knit up. The girls were enchanted and just HAD to have one each. I thought I also needed one and if they were quick and easy.....well, that was just up my alley :o)

The story explains why there are four scarves in the above picture. The first one was a real pain to knit. I did not find this yarn to be easy at first. I am not good with the "just stab anywhere in the ribbon thing", I am way too controlling for that! I felt the need to spread out the ribbon, make sure I measured to the same spot on my needle each time so the stitches would all be the same length, and stab just under the top border - kind of fiddly! That said, by the time I got to the second scarf, things were going much more smoothly and I was clicking along pretty well. Four scarves in approximately five days. Not complete knitting days, days where we were playing cards, riding to a hiking spot, waiting at the chem tutor, etc. Each scarf averaged around 2.5 to 3 hours to make.

They do make quite a statement. I love the colors and the ruffles.

Each one measures 3" X approx. 55"

My colorway.

Color: 17 Teal-Black

Dye Lot: 147

US #11 Needles

The 10 year old's colorway.

Color: 22 Red-Fushia

Dye Lot: 152

US #11 Needles

She LOVES it and it matches the lining in her jacket!

The 13 year old's colorway.

Color: 20 Blue

Dye Lot: 150

US #11 Needles

You can't tell because of the red eye, but this scarf brings out the blue in her eyes quite well.

The 16 year old's colorway.

Color: 16 Lime Green

Dye Lot: 146

US #11 Needles

She has been wearing hers nonstop since I finished!

Take a look at Tami's blog for other finishes by talented crafters.