Amazement

On a regular old day, in a somewhat sunny Florida, a little girl and her pregnant mommy walked out to the mailbox to get the mail. Inside that mailbox was, innocently enough, was a manila envelope, encased in tape. Now, not only was it excitement to just get a package in the mail, it was what was in it that was simply amazing.



Little baby Zoe, is now the proud new owner of a pair of Marie shoes. Aren't they just beautiful??? They are so tightly knit (or is it crocheted?)and even after looking, I can't find a single seam. No matter how hard I would have tried I would never have ever been able to do such a wonderful job. I am simply in awe. Thank you Marie!

Not Getting Things Done

So I've not been crafty at all, unless you count when I was crafty enough to get Jerry to do bath 4 nights in a row! I am excited about one thing though. I am in the process of moving my sewing room from one room in our house to another. Because I have been planning to do this for many, many months now, stuff has been piling up in my current sewing room to the point that I don't even want to go in there. It is no fun to go get a project done when you can hardly walk into the room the stuff is in. I will post the pictures of my "new" room when it is done.

Feeling somewhat guilty that I haven't done much crafty lately, I did pull out the blanket for my room that I began to crochet last fall. Remember that? I was over the top excited about this new method of crochet I had discovered and ordered a way too expensive giant crochet hook to make this blanket? Well, I think the last time I added any stitches to this blanket was in December...the shame is great here...but yesterday I dug it out and added 7 whole rows to it! Work with me here - I need some encouragement. So go ahead, tell me how incredibly awesome I am for adding 7 whole rows to my blanket! Remember, it is a full size bed blanket so 7 rows is quite a lot!

Tunisian Beauty

So I am making progress on my Tunisian crochet blanket. It is going to take a long time to finish this. I enjoy the process, but lets face it - there is only so much time in one day and crochet isn't on the top of my list. But it is coming along. And the good news is that it is getting colder so I won't suffocate under it while I am working on it!


Anyway, here is a shot of how it looks so far. I took it on the bed in my bedroom so you could see how the colors fit the room. I took the second shot after doing another half row so that you could also see how the extended wire is used. What do you all think of it?

Okay, I should have been in bed 30 minutes ago! I have a cold and it is late...bring on the night time cold medicine!

It Came, It Came!!!!!

I am so, so very excited that my Tunisian Crochet hook came in the mail today!!! If you'll remember, I told you I was considering paying a horrible amount of money for one, and I did. And it's here. And I can hardly wait to begin working on my blanket! I am SO addicted to crafting. Who in their right mind would pay $30 (that's with shipping) for a crochet hook? Oh, but it's hand crafted, made to order, and not available in any stores. I guess I would.

Not Much to Say

So my life has just been characterized by pain recently. I ruptured an ovarian cyst Monday. This has happened to me 4 times before, but the last time was 13 years ago, so I kind of forgot what it felt like. So, needless to say, there were some times on Monday that I was freaking out thinking of all the aweful things that could have been causing such severe abdominal pain! I almost called my doctor, but already had an appointment scheduled with my OB on Tuesday, so I didn't. It worked out well because my OB knew right away what was going on. Anyway, during all of that, I noticed that my throat hurt a bit, but with all the other pain, I didn't think about it much. By Wednesday, my other pain was gone and suddenly I realized that my throat really hurt. I got out the flashlight and took a look...so I was back at the doctor yesterday with a throat infection. Along with that, my washing machine broke. I called yesterday to make an appointment to get the Maytag man out here - he is apparently busier than the ads would have us think because he cannot get out any sooner than next Tuesday! What are we supposed to wear until then??? When it rains, it pours!

I have actually been a little bit crafty through it all. I made some towels for one of my cousins who is getting married this weekend. The waiters are going to drape these over their arms when they serve the wine.

I also finished the third hat for my friend's children. If you remember, I posted about the other two here. This one gave me fits! I used this wool blend yarn that isn't the same gage throughout so my hat kept taking on strange shapes! Of course I wasn't using a pattern, and I had never worked with this kind of yarn before, so it was a bunch of trial and error. I bought the yarn because the little girl wanted pink and orange for her hat, and it is really so pretty with a beautiful pink - not too hot pink - and a deep orange. It also had green and I thought the colors blended beautifully. That should teach me that picking a yarn for the color is not always the best idea!

I also made some gifts for a friend who just had a baby. I finally figured out how I want to package my security blankies when I made this one. I also really like the camo print on the burp cloth - very "boy."

Busy, Busy

So I have been largely silent here, but I have been busy crafting and taking care of sick family members. Now that everyone is well, I have time to show off what I have been doing. First of all, I made a purse for my niece for her birthday. Before anyone bothers to point it out to me that this is the same pattern I have used for everyone else I have made a purse for, I made it bigger this time! :) Okay, it is still the same other than that and completely lacks creativity...I'll need to work on that at some point. But creativity on my part or not, it is still cute!

I also made some patchwork cards from a tutorial on the Craft Apple Blog. These are for gifts too - a birthday gift for one sister in law and a thank you gift for another. I did some in a diagonal pattern and some in a horizontal pattern. I think I like the diagonal ones better - what do you think? I find these ones to be a bit pink (except for the blue one - I really like that one), but I was using some quilt squares I got on ebay to make them. These quilt squares are the best for projects like this because they are grouped in coordinating fabrics, washed, ironed, and cut when they come. It really cuts down on my work time! I got each of these sets bidding no more than $2.01 for a 40-50 square set. Shipping is usually only $1.75-2.00, which I find very reasonable to not have to find matching fabrics and do all the prep work myself!! I have some fall fabrics and some black and white fabrics to make some cards with too. I'll post those when I get them done.
Finally, I've been working on crocheting winter hats for a friend of mine who has three kids. I found some new patterns and I'm really proud of the boy's hat! See, this is where the creativity is coming in! I may still be using the same purse pattern, but my hats are getting much more creative. I still have one more to do, but I thought I'd show you the two I have done already.

Okay, I feel much better now that I have posted this stuff. I cannot wait so long before posting again! Hopefully I will be a bit more prompt next time!