Blog Makeover!

Hello All!  How do you like the new look of my blog?   This poor little blog has needed a facelift for a long time now.  I used to use an online freebie background, but someone let me know that their antivirus system notified them there was malware attached to it.  Now I don't exactly know what malware is, but it did not sound like a good thing.  :)  So I removed the freebie background, and began using one of the backgrounds provided on blogger.  I chose one that I sort of liked, but didn't really love and then I was contacted by someone saying it was too busy and made it difficult to read the items listed on the sidebar.  That wasn't good either!  Next I tried a few very boring and plain backgrounds, which I was not happy with.  Then a few weeks ago I was perusing thru etsy and found that there were blog packages available to purchase.  I had no idea!  :)  There were a lot of great designs to choose from and I got mine from Simply Creative.  Magaly from Simply Creative was so nice to work with.  I had several questions beforehand and she was very helpful.  She also has some great etsy banner designs, so next up will be a makeover for my etsy shop.  :)

Another new thing on the blog is the option to follow by email. I've been asked about this before, but being the low-tech person that I am, had no idea how to set it up.  Then I got an email the other day asking about it (thanks Kathi!) and decided to see if I could figure it out.  So if you are interested in following by email, that option is now on the right sidebar.  :)

And I had to share this funny picture that my dad took the other day.  My nephew Eli is completely obessed with any and all vehicles.  His first word was car.  One of his favorite things to do is to sit in my dad's truck and "drive".  His little sidekick in the picture is my parent's cat Symon.  Symon loves to go for car rides and he even has his own little perch on the passenger seat of my dad's truck where he sits.  He's sitting there so patiently and I'm sure he's probably wondering why the heck the truck is not going anywhere.  :)

 

Flower Power Dishcloth - Free Pattern

These dishcloths work up quickly!  They are made using Sugar 'n Cream worsted weight 100% cotton yarn, and a size H (5.00mm) crochet hook.

Finished size is about 9" across.

CLICK HERE FOR PATTERN

Thank you!!

A big Thank You to everyone who left me a comment on the washing machine question!   You were all very helpful!  I have decided that I am going to go with a top loader, and hope to get one purchased this week. 

We got another hard rain yesterday afternoon.  Having such a hot, dry summer has made us get excited anytime it rains.  It rained so hard that it did actually show up a bit in the picture this time.  And afterwards, it turned a weird orange outside.  Thing are finally getting green again and we're sure happy about that!  :)

Thanks again everyone, and I hope you all have a great week!  :)

Washing Machines...Front Loader vs.Top Loader

Sorry for the boring topic!  :)  But my washing machine is on it's last legs and I have been shopping around for a new one, and I'm having trouble deciding what to get.  It seems that the front loaders are very popular now, but I just can't seem to work up any excitement for one.  It might be because I have this irrational fear that water will leak out the door at some point.  Yeah, I'm weird that way. :)

And the new top loaders sort of intrigued me, because I notice that some of them don't have the agitator thing in the middle of the drum anymore.   I kind of liked that, but wonder if that makes them any better.

So if there are any of you out there that have one of these and if you would leave me a comment and let me know pros or cons of either type, I would really appreciate it.  :) 

Thank you!  And I'll try and come up with something more interesting for the next post.  :)

2013 Crochet Calendar

The new 2013 Crochet Calendar is out and one of my patterns made it!

Last summer I was thrilled to be asked if I would like to submit my Easter Marshmallow Bunnies for consideration for the 2013 Crochet Calendar.  I entered my submission and didn't hear whether it had been accepted or not, but a few weeks ago I received a package in the mail and in it was a copy of the calendar.   And I was very excited to see my little Easter Marshmallow Bunnies featured on the weekend page for March 29th, 30th and 31st!   I'm also having a great time looking at all the great projects and trying to decide what to make first.  :)

***Edited to Add***
Calendars are available here at Amazon.com

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!

Flower Ring Decoration - Free Pattern

Click Here to Get Pattern PDF

This heat wave seems like it will never end!  It's been so hot lately that I haven't felt like doing much crafting.  Mostly I have been hanging out, reading on my Kindle Fire (my favorite possession!) and churning out slushies on my margarita machine (another favorite possession)  :).

But I did manage to blow the dust off the crochet hook long enough to make up some flower ring decorations/ornaments.  Last fall when I did the "Ringing in Christmas" ornament series (links to those patterns can be found on the sidebar of the blog), I received some requests to design ring decoration for other seasons of the year. 

Flowers are stitched around a 2" plastic ring.  They can be strung together to make a bunting, or connected vertically to make a wall hanging. 

Finished size of each flower is 4" across.

Hope everyone is staying cool!  :)