What I've Been Up To Lately

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I have been busy.  I have had lots of projects going, some are finished, some are still in the works.

A while back I made a carseat pillow for Eli.  I saw one on Pinterest, and it's just a long tube that they can hold or lay alongside them to rest their head on.  He didn't really understand what it was, but he did like the footballs on the fleece fabric.  :)

I had my first try at making doll clothes.   My friend's grand-daughter has an American Girl doll and she wanted to make some clothes for it.  She purchased a crochet pattern she found online and got started.  But she soon ran into problems.  It was a very vague and confusing pattern and she got thru the vest and just gave up on the rest of it.  So I had her bring me all her stuff and said I would finish it up for her.  I made the skirt and hat, but I put my own twist on the skirt.  It was to be worked in a solid color, but I had some white yarn with a touch of silver sprinkles in it, and used it to make the top part of the skirt, and then used her purple yarn for the bottom border.  Then when I made the hat I added a round of the white yarn to sort of bring it all together.  I found that I kind of like making doll clothes and have been looking around in Ravelry for my next project.

Recently I made a walker tote for a friend of mine.  Someone visiting her had seen it and wanted one for their father, so I whipped one up for him this past weekend.  I hope he likes it!

I am also still plugging away on my Umaro blanket.  I am past the half way mark and hope to finish it up soon!  Olivia decided to "help me" take the picture  :)
(excuse the bad picture, the lighting was terrible!)

And I have a basket of bunny parts that will soon turn into 3 Easter bunnies.  I am using this pattern and am enjoying making these little guys.

We also celebrated my nephew Eli's birthday this past weekend.  I can't believe he's 2 already!  He is obsessed with all vehicles, but he especially likes firetrucks, police cars and ambulances.  So as a birthday surprise, he got to sit in a police car.  He was a bit speechless, which is very unusual, because he is quite the chatterbox.  

He had a great time at his birthday party and hogged all the monster truck party favors for himself.  :)

And what a difference 2 years makes.  This is a photo from the day he was born.

Projects in Process

I have a whole lot of things going on, but not much finished yet.  I think I might have too many irons in the fire  right now.  But it is fun to work on a variety of things, keeps it interesting.  :)

I did get another ball of yarn worked on my Umaro Blanket.  I've worked 4 balls so far, and have 8 more to go.  I am really loving this blanket and can't wait to get it finished!

I have a new design that I'm working on and it's taking up almost all of my time.  Once I get it finished, I can spend more time on the Umaro.  At least that is what I'm telling myself to keep me motivated on finishing this design.  I tweak my designs half to death, which usually involves remaking them over and over until it's just right.  I tend to be a little bit anal of a perfectionist, so this one is taking a long time to complete!  I think it will be worth it though.  Here's a sneak peek:

New design in progress

I do have one completed project to show.  I have a good friend that is undergoing physical therapy at a nursing home.  She hopes to be released soon, but has been told she will need to use her walker all the time as she is still unsteady on her feet.  They suggested that she get a tote that hangs on the walker so she will be able to carry things around if she needs to.  I told her I would make her one, and was able to get it made this past weekend and got it delivered to her yesterday.  This just shows the front side, but it is the same on the back.  It a long piece that folds in half and hangs over the front bar of a walker, and there is velcro between the two sides that hold it in place.  You can't really see in the picture, but I've stitched down the center of the pocket, making it into two pockets.  There are two pockets on the backside as well, so she will have plenty of room for her things.  I made it using this video tutorial I found on youtube.  The video was very helpful, and it was an easy project.  And it's a fast project too, if you are an experienced seamstress, which I am not.  :)

I hope everyone is staying warm where you are!  It's very cold here, but no snow, so I'm a happy camper. :)

2013 Gratitude Journals

Gratitude....that is my word for 2013.  I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions, but I decided this year I am going to "on purpose" look for something to be grateful for each and every day.  I actually started doing this a few months ago when I spontaneously decided to jot something down in my prayer journal one night thanking God for something good that had happened that day.   I didn't plan on it, but I ended up doing the same thing the next day.  By the third day I found myself going through my day watching for things that I could thank God for at the end of the day.   When I realized what a difference it made in my day, I decided I need to make this a permanent part of each day!

I got the idea for making journals last month when I saw something on pinterest where someone was making 2013 gratitude journals and selling them on etsy.  I thought that was a great idea and wanted to make one for myself, but didn't get a chance to think anymore about it until a few days after Christmas.  Then I decided that I HAD to make one not only for myself, but also for my mom and sister.  I went in search of a datebook of some sort to turn into a journal, but couldn't find just the right thing.  I did find some plain journals I liked, so I bought 3 of them and set about turning them into Gratitude Journals. 

I had to start this project by doing math so I could evenly distribute the pages into the 12 months. 
I attached little tabs dividers to separate the months and then had to hand write in each day's date.  That took a while to do for all 3 journals!  Then I found 12 bible verses on gratitude and printed them out and matted them onto scrapbook paper. I used the verses and things from my papercrafting stash to decorate the first page of each month.  This was a very time consuming project, but  I loved every minute of it.   I finished them up and got them delivered to my mom and sister just in the nick of time for the new year.  We are all looking foward to keeping these journals and how fun it will be at the end of the year to look back at all the blessings we received from God this year.  :)

One of the first things I am grateful for this year is wonderful parents who gave me the yarn for Christmas to make the Umaro Blanket by Jarod Flood.  This blanket has been on my wish list for quite a while and I am having so much fun working on it.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  :)

And I have a feeling this little goofball (my nephew Eli) will be on many pages of my Gratitude Journal this year.  He is such a blessing from God and he makes me laugh constantly!  This day he was "helping" me in the kitchen (notice the beater on the floor behind him in the 2nd pic) and he wandered out of the kitchen and then stuck his head around the corner wearing the hubby's reading glasses.  He loves wearing these glasses so much that we ended up popping the lenses out and just letting him have them.  :)

 

Happy New Year's to you all!

 

Snowman Jar Cozy Finished

I'm still plugging away on all of my projects-in-progress and I did manage to finish one up.  This is the Snowman Jar Cozy and is a free pattern on www.redheart.com.  Very quick and easy project and a lot of fun too.  I didn't end up using any felt for the face features and used all buttons instead. 
I thought that would be more durable from year to year.  I found the glass vase at Walmart for about $1, so it's also an inexpensive project. 

And on a whole different topic, I had to make some changes to the comment section.  I have been getting dozens of spam comments every day, which means dozens of spam emails in my inbox too.  I also discovered that if anyone had left a comment and chose to have follow-up comments emailed to them, they ended up getting copies of all those spam comments too.  I changed the comment section to require a google or open id account.  So far that seems to have solved the problem and I haven't received a single spam since.  Keeping my fingers crossed on that!  Spammers need to get a real life!  :)
 

So Many Projects.....So Little Progress

My blogging has been a bit sparse lately, mostly because not much has been going on, and I don't have any finished projects to show.  I've been busy though.  I am working on a new pattern, and I'm getting geared up for a new ring ornament series for Christmas.  I also have several personal projects in the works.  Since I rarely make anything for myself, I was suprised when I realized that all of my projects in process are for me!  It was a happy suprise though, and I am looking forward to getting all of these finished up so I can enjoy them.  My progress seems to be going slowly, but I think that's because I am trying to work on so many at the same time.  :)

First up is the The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower, and is a free pattern on Ravelry.  You can't really tell by the picture (below), but it's almost finished.  I think I have just a few more rows to go.  I'm loving the yarn, it is Tosh DK by Madelinetosh and is SO nice to work with.  Hopefully I will get this finished up this week sometime.  Getting around to blocking it is a whole other story.  :)

 


Next is a fun little project I found on www.redheart,com, called a  Snowman Jar Cozy.  It's a quick, easy project to make.  You just work ribbing in the round for about 5 inches, then use felt and buttons to make a snowman's face.  It slides over a round glass vase and can be used as a candy dish.  I picked up a vase the other day, and once I get this finished, I will fill it up with peppermints.  :)

This next project is a kit I bought at Mary Maxim for an afghan called"Marcelle Afghan".  I don't usually buy kits, but this one is only available as a kit. I have had my eye on it for quite some time, and when Mary Maxim had a free shipping offer I took advantage of it and ordered it.
I'm making it using the yarn provided, which I'm not crazy about, but I am enjoying the pattern.  It's not a mindless project though, you really have to stay focused. I can't wait to see it finished, but this one will probably take a while to get done.

This project is called the Alpine Frost Scarf by Amy O'Neill Houck and is available for purchase on Ravelry.  I was looking through all the projects made from the pattern and I fell in love with this gorgeous project.  She made the scarf using Lace Lux yarn, which I found at Jimmy Beans Wool.  This yarn is to die for, it is so soft!  I just started this, so I haven't gotten very far, and the full effect of this scarf isn't seen until it's finished and blocked.  But it is a very easy, mindless project, perfect for working on while watching TV. 

The last project is a sewing project.  I was in my local fabric store, and they had gotten in some really nice dishtowels, and had decorated them by stitching fabric along the bottom and adding some rick rack for decoration.  So I picked up supplies to make two towels.  Once I take the time to haul out the sewing machine, this project should only take a few hours.  I bought fall fabric though, so I guess I better get going on it.  :)

So that's my list of projects and I hope to have some finished pictures to share soon!  :)
 

Rain!!!.....and a Few Finished Projects!

Thank God for rain! An email went around our community the other day urging everyone to pray for rain. We prayed, and that evening it rained, and then it rained all night, and it continued to rain until late morning the next day. So I am thanking God for the rain! We sure needed it. I stood on my front porch when it was raining very steadily to try and catch a picture of it. But the rain just didn't really show up in the photo. You can see though, that our grass is so fried that it is about the same color of the mulch around the bushes in front.

The first project I have to share is actually a project completed by my husband.  I kept seeing kiddie carwashes on Pinterest, which are made using pcv pipe and I thought they were very cool.  I knew my little nephew Eli would love it, so I made a mental note to ask my husband to make one sometime.  Then I saw a step by step tutorial on The Scrap Shoppe Blog, and I knew the time had come.  She did a great job putting together this tutorial and actually suggests inserting misters in the drilled holes, and that way the water just mists out instead of squirting out.  Very cool!  So I printed out all the information for hubby and he put it together.  We invited Eli to come and try it out, and you can see he was a very happy camper.  This kid seriously loves getting wet, he even loves baths!  :)

You can't really see the water very well, because it's misty.  :)

We even caught a Rainbow!

Our niece and her husband are expecting a baby girl in Sept.  I am going to the baby shower this weekend and made a newsboy beanie cap and a pair of matching shoes.  These were seriously fun to make!  The newsboy cap is a pattern by Jocelyn Sass, who is one of my all time  favorite crochet designers.  I love her patterns and this one was just wonderful, and so easy to follow.  You can find the pattern in her etsy shop.

The shoes were made using the pattern "Double Strap Booties" from this etsy shop.  This was a very quick and fun project and I love how they turned out.  I just happened to have in my button stash, exactly 2 large daisy buttons and 4 small daisy buttons, so it worked out perfectly.  :)  And it was a lot of fun to make some baby girl things, I haven't gotten to do that in a while. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Few Finished Projects

I've been working on several projects lately, and here are a few of the finished ones. I still have a few more on the hook (and needles).  :) 

Eli and I did our first craft project together.  We used fingerpaints and made a handprint picture for his mommy for Mother's Day.  Big suprise, he really likes using fingerpaints!  It was a very messy project, so we were lucky to have Grandma on hand to help, because it took our four hands to keep up with his two hands.  It was worth it though, because his mommy loved it!  :)

I made a pair of Turkish Bed Socks from a pattern purchased off of Ravelry.  I gave this pair as a gift, but I liked them so much that I have another pair on the needles for me.  :)

These deer hats have been very popular with my husband's family, and I keep getting requests for them.  I think so far I've made about 10 of them.  I have never made so many of one thing before, and hopefully this is it for a while.  :)  It's a basic hat pattern and uses a free chart on Ravelry called Fornicating Deer. 

And I had to throw in this picture of Olivia that I took the other day.  She was so conked out, and the way she was sleeping just made me laugh.  I believe she must have wore herself out from all the mischief she had been in.  Being ornery all day long can be exhausting work!  :)

Eli's Birthday Projects

Eli turned 1 last month, but I've been so busy working on a new pattern that I haven't had time to post about the birthday projects my mom and I made.  Eli loves monkeys, so that was the theme of the party. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the birthday party, so I wasn't able to get any pictures of Eli with his birthday goodies. 

My mom made him this sweet little 1st birthday bib.  She used McCall's Crafts pattern M6368, and embroidered the monkey from a design she found at www.emblibrary.com . 

I made a birthday banner, but it is so long that I wasn't able to get a good photo of it, and you can't really see it in the first photo.  It has a monkey at each end to "hold" the banner, and it says "Happy Birthday Eli".  I took a close up picture of one of the monkeys and of the Eli section of the banner to give an idea of what it looks like.
To make it,  I found a cute image of a monkey online and drew it out and made it from cardstock.  I used markers to color in the face features.  I also added a little balloon for one monkey to hold that says "Eli is 1"(I straightened out a paper clip to use for the ballon's string). 

For the banner's words, I use an alphabet clipart set I found on etsy.  The set is so cute, and included both blue letters with white polka dots and green letters with white polka dots. This was the first time I've used clipart, and it worked well, and was a lot of fun.  And it was only $1.45 for the whole set!  I printed each letter out on white cardstock and matted on brown rectangle shapes, then punched holes in the top of each rectangle to thread the ribbon through.    

And of course, Eli needed  birthday hat!  I found a really cute party hat template on the blog Oh Happy Day. I printed out the template and cut out of cardstock, and decorated.  I printed out the "1" using the same clipart that I used for the banner.  I punched tiny holes on each side and tied elastic cord for the strap. 

And as part of his birthday gift, I made Eli a little monkey using Rebecca Danger's Jerry the Musical Monkey knitting pattern.  This pattern was so much fun to make!  And Eli loves him! The only change I made was to use black felt for the eyes instead of plastic eyes. 

I don't have any birthday pictures to share, but here is Eli enjoying spring break a few weeks ago in Florida.  He loves being outside and he had a hard time last week understanding that he is now back in Indiana and it's not always warm enough to play outside every day.  :)

Eli the Beach Bum!

Mini Chocolate Bunny

Mini Bunny 7 1/2" tall, Big Bunny is 15" tall

After making a few of the Chocolate Easter Bunnies, I thought it would be fun do a little experiment and see if I could make a smaller version.   I had some brown fingering weight sock yarn on hand, and using that and a size B/1 crochet hook, I followed the original chocolate bunny pattern exactly.  The mini bunny came out to be about 7 1/2" tall.  The original is about 15" tall, so this one came out at 1/2 the size.  I didn't measure out how much fingering weight yarn it took, but I have plently left over in my ball to make several more.  So little Eli (I can't call him Baby Eli anymore, because he is 1 now and does not like to be called a baby) may have a whole herd of these in his Easter Basket this year.  :)

Finished Projects

Here are some of the things I made for Christmas gifts this year.

I made my sweet little nephew Eli a football hat.  I used a pattern that I purchased on Ravelry called "Touchdown! Hat" by Megan Hall.  This is a very nice pattern and worked up quickly, and Eli seemed to like it too.  :)

I made LOTS of knitted House Dishcloths.  I used two different patterns.   The first batch pictured was made using a pattern I bought on Ravelry called "House Shaped Cloth" by Alli Barrett..  The second cloth pictured was made using a free pattern available on Ravelry called "Nineteen Hundred House Dishcloth" by Amanda Ochocki.  I really enjoyed both these patterns and will be making more in the future. 

The Tissue Cover and Bookmark below were both made using video tutorials from the blog Debz Days.  She has lots of wonderful tutorials and I have several more of them on my wish list to do soon.  :)



And I finally got a pair of socks finished!  My goal last year was to make a pair a month, but too many other things took my time and that didn't happen.  But knitting socks is one of my favorite things to do, and I sure hope to make more this year.  This pair went to my mom and she loved them. :)

A New Member of the Family and Some Christmas Ornaments

First of all, let me introduce Olivia, the newest member of our family! Olivia is about 6 months old, and was a stray kitten in our neighborhood. She actually adopted us, instead of the other way around. She decided she wanted to live here, and since the first time she walked in the front door, she has made herself completely at home and she acts like she owns the place. That hasn't exactly endeared her to Gus and Grace, however, and it's been a big adjustment for them. Things are finally starting to smooth out and although I wouldn't exactly call them BFF's yet, the growls and hisses are minimal now, and just yesterday I saw them all sleeping on our bed. So hopefully one day soon, they will all be best buds. :)


                                  
 
Besides being a kitty referee, I have also been busy making a few Christmas ornaments.  My nephew Eli was born in March, and since this is his first Christmas, I wanted to make him a special ornament.  I found the idea for this onsie ornament on Pinterest, but put my own spin on it.


Eli's First Christmas Ornament

I also tried my hand at modpodge for the first time and made some ornaments for our niece's new baby, Alex, and also for my godchildren, Sarah and RJ.  I used this tutorial that I found on Brown Paper Packages, and put their names on the front and the year on the back.  I loved doing modpodge and can't wait to do another project!  :)

My ring ornament series came to an end last week, but Barbara from Made in K-town designed a really adorable ring ornament called Bobble Wheel Ornament, and I just had to give it a try.  It was easy and fun to make, and I love how it turned out.

This next ornament isn't one I made, but one that was made for me!  I got a wonderful suprise in the mail yesterday from my Dutch blogging friend Annette.  She hand-stitched this adorable little heart ornament.
Thank you Annette, I love it!  :)

I have lots of Christmas projects to share (some I'm still working on!), and I'll show those after Christmas.