My how time flies....

My last post was in June.  Wow.  Can't say that I've had much to post about.  Kind of got bogged down in mundane day to day life stuff and lost that crafty side for a bit.

But I'm currently working on a crocodile stitch baby blanket and will get caught up on my Craftsy and English Garden quilt blocks.  Haven't so much as laid a finger on them since then. 

My garden did okay.  Got quite a few tomatoes and I'm still getting baby tomatoes.  Just hoping the weather holds out long enough for these to get to a good size as they are from the German Giant plant I had all but given up on.  Also got some baby okra growing.  They did nothing during the heat wave and now they are growing.  Same with the jalapeno.  Go figure.

But so as not to leave this with just words, here are pictures of my flowers that I was very happy to see grow and blossom.  I'm already thinking about planting bulbs now for spring.

Red and white dahlia

Purple dahlia

One of the sunflowers

White dahlias

Pink and white dahlia

Also, I've purchased a couple of new cookbooks.  One is "Food in Jars".  I've loved the blog that inspired this book from the moment I first saw it and I love that the recipes in this book only make 3 - 5 jars instead of a dozen or more.  That means more canning for me!  The very first recipe I'll be making is the Pickled Green Tomatoes as I had a lot of green tomatoes that pretty much aren't going to ripen up with the weather getting chillier and I don't want to be hit with a bunch of ripe tomatoes at one time.  And, let's face it, I LOVE pickles.

So now back to prepping for the canning.  Shouldn't take too long as it will only be six jars.  I'm very excited about this book!

Happy Dance!!!

I finished Lory's Warming Stripes Throw.  Love the pattern.  Even though it's only a single crochet,with the cross it makes it a very nice stitch.  It's in coffee, light blue and soft white.  Which will match the colors in her living room.

Nubby Dishcloth Finish

I did another quick dishcloth.  This one is the Nubby Dish Cloth and what looks like bobbles are actually just triple crochets followed by a single.  Fast to make and easy to remember.  Also looks like it will be a great scrubber.

Quick Finish #2

Another quick dish cloth.  I was also led to this one by AllFreeCrochet.com and is called the Daisy Dish Cloth

Daisy Dish Cloth

The next time I try it I think I'm going to use two different petal colors just for the heck of it to see how it works.  It was an interesting pattern and it's quite big when finished, a little over 9" square.  Onwards....

Quick Finish

I found the pattern for the Lacy Petals Dishcloth through a link from AllFreeCrochet.com along with a few others and finished this one in about an hour.  I really like it and will be making more as I am determined to make all of my Christmas gifts by hand this year and need to get started NOW!

Makayla's Giraffe

This was a very quick gift for a new baby girl.  It was fun to make and very, very easy.  The pattern is from Red Heart and is the Little Crochet Giraffe.

A little glitch

Working away on the baby quilt.  Finally found a font that I could live with for the letter J that I'm putting on the quilt.  Trace and cut out the letter, pin it to the block and quickly discover that I haven't got any thread to match the letter.

Well, I do, but it's in storage with ALL OF MY OTHER STUFF!  Sorry to shout, but it was really frustrating.  So now I've put it aside until I return to work on Tuesday when I'll pick up the thread I need.  The worst part is that I know I purchased the color I need to work on some quilt blocks for a swap and not only can I not find the thread I can't even find the bobbins for my sewing machine.  One of which would have had enough thread for me to use for the applique.

Instead of continuing to pout I pulled out the afghan I'm crocheting for my sister and worked on it a bit.

Lory's Warming Stripes Afghan in progress

I really like this stitch, it's a crossed single crochet stitch. You skip one and then go back to crochet in the one you skipped.  It gives it some interesting texture.  But being single crochet, it takes a while to get some size going.

Some finishes for January

I've actually been getting a few things started and finished.  They aren't huge items, but I like them.  First up, pigs with wings

Well actually one pig with wings and one with a white band.  I'm still thinking about giving him wings, but I'm liking him like he is right now.  Also need to get some seed beads for eyes.

Next up are two very cool dishcloth patterns that I found at neatlytangled's Etsy shop. The first one is A Practically Hyperbolic Dishcloth.  All I can say is it's 9 rounds of perfection.  It's just plain fun to make.

I used a self striping for the multi-colored on and a variegated for the blue one.  This dishcloth almost screams for bright colors but I can see it in softer ones too because of the great waves it has.

The next one is Scrubbing Ruffles and is also from neatlytangled's Etsy shop.  I didn't block this one, I just took it when it was done.  It's like a granny block that's gone all curly on the sides.

And finally for this session are these which if I remember were supposed to be sunflower colored, but I took some liberties with the petals.

I wasn't too happy with my center round because it's all lumpy, but I can fix that in later attempts.

I'm attempting to get an 11 month start on Christmas this year.  I'm hoping to do at least 2 dishcloths a month for use in gift packs at Christmas.  I think I'm seeing a lot of hyperbolics and scrubbing ruffles in my future.

I'm also working on the sofa throw for my sister.  I started over and made it longer that the original pattern.  It's rows of a crossed single crochet that alternates colors every two rows so it's going a little slow.  I've done about 10 rows and it feels like it's not getting anywhere...but I'm determined to get it finished.

A Granny A Day Update

Well I signed up months ago and started making granny squares from patterns that I could find.  These are the results:

Love this one

 

One of my favorites

Then there are the group I started for an afghan.  They are three inches wide and I need a total of 600.  I'm using black as the main color and any scraps I can get my hands on.

35 down, 565 more to go

And last but not least, a pumpkin just for the heck of it.

A finish from earlier in the year

I made this little guy for my husband as a Valentine's Day gift.  I used this pattern for him and this pattern for the heart.  He was promptly named Val and holds court on his desk.  I had to kidnap him to take these photos and I'm thinking about asking for ransom if he wants him back. (Just kidding)

Val the Penguin

The Big Finish

And it's finally done.  My biggest crochet project to date, an afghan (maybe lapghan) for my mom.  It didn't make it for her birthday (darned flowers and leaves) but it's all done.  I did the ends and fringe today and here are the final results.

Dennie's Irish Lace and Roses Afghan

Detail of flowers

It will be shipped out on Monday to my mom who has been waiting for it patiently.  I ended up telling her I was still working on something and she wormed the details out of me.  I just hope she likes it.

Next up, a baby quilt for the newest baby in the family.

Still working on...

the afghan for my mom. She already knows she's getting something and that it will be a belated gift, but she doesn't know what it is. I didn't think the leaves and flowers would take so long. But considering I haven't been able to work on it 24/7 that's what has happened. So, I'm moving along, I've got 44 flowers done, all of the leaves and I still have to do the last panel. Then I'll be attaching all 120 of the flowers and leaves. Whew!

Woo Hoo!!

I've finished the 6 hunter green panels for the Irish Lace and Roses afghan. Now on to the side trim that will join them.

After that I'll start on the actual roses and leaves once the sport weight SOFT white arrives. I mistakenly ordered off white instead and boy what a difference. Luckily my husband said why send it back, you know you'll use it at some point.

On to the loops!!

Irish Lace and Roses Afghan

I ran across a pattern called Irish Lace and Roses Afghan from Annie's Attic and fell in love with it. I decided to make it for my mother's birthday in September. It will be Hunter Green and Soft White so it goes with her bedroom colors. So far I've completed two of the panels and am close to finishing the third. It's a pretty easy repeat for the panels. They are each 110 rows long but they fly by. I still need to get the soft white in the sport weight to make the roses out of.

I really love the way they are joined, it looks like it's braided. Here's the progress so far.

Crocheting my little heart out

Believe it or not I have actually been busy. I have been doing a lot of crocheting.

First up is the baby blanket I did for a co-worker who is having a little boy. The pattern called for a size G hook, but I ended up moving up to an I to get the right gauge. I don't know if it's me or the patterns, but sometimes the gauge works and sometimes it doesn't. I used Bernat Baby Sport Yarn in Baby White and Baby Denim Marl and really liked it. Here's the finished item made from the Little Boy Blue afghan pattern which I believe is a Red Heart pattern. The only thing I didn't do was the embroidery on it, just ran out of time, but I still loved the outcome.

(ignore the dates, the camera wasn't set)

Next up was a quick blanket for a new baby girl for another co-worker. I used the Bernat Baby Sport again in Lavender and Baby White. The original pattern used one color throughout but I switched the edging to white. The ribbon around the edge is really nice.


I was really happy with the way they both came out and now I'm working on an afghan for my mom's birthday called Loop-n-Lace Irish Lace and Roses. It will be in Hunter Green and Soft White.

More to come!

Tri-Color Cloche

Okay, I bought the yarn for this on October 20, 2008 after finding the free pattern in the yarn section. My crochet skills were really rudimentary at the time, but I thought I'd give it a try. I do remember trying one night and frogging it about 6 times, then putting everything back in the bag it came home in.

Over a year later, I unearth them (after moving and finally learning some actual crochet skills and I managed to start and finish it in less than a day and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Not the greatest picture in the world, but I like it nonetheless. AND it's my second finish for a project this year. I'll post the first closer to Valentine's Day in case someone takes a look at my blog.

July !?! Update

It's already July, half the year is gone!

Oh well, here's what's happening. In my continuing bouts with my Crohn's, I am on round three (or is it four) with prednisone. I waver between calling it a blessing and evil. Because it's really both. It gets rid of the inflammation and makes me feel human again, but at the same time it has a laundry list of evil side effects. My nickname when I'm on it is "Rex" after the hamster in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels because of the moon face I get from the bloating.

The latest is that as the current group of drugs I'm on aren't doing what they should so I will need to move up a level to "biologicals" which involve self-administered injections. Only they have their own laundry list of side effects and bad things. Today I have an appointment with my neurologist to review the three (yes, three) MRI's I had on Saturday to determine if there is any MS lurking in my system. As my sister has been diagnosed with it and now a half-sister also possibly has it they want to make sure I don't have any underlying as the new regimen of drugs could "bring it out" if I do. The thought that crossed my mind whenI heard my gastro say that was "lovely". But I'm thinking positive and we'll go from there.

I've added a link to my sidebar if anyone would like to learn more about Crohn's because they are curious, knows someone with it or may have symptoms and aren't sure what they are. It seems to be showing up in more people lately and I can't help but think it's tied to the crap we've been fed by food scientists for decades now.

EAT LOCAL, EAT FRESH, KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM!!!

Now on to crafting. I'm currently working on knitted sleeves for my sister. They are being knit in sport weight merino on size 9 needles and are very lightweight and airy, but talk about taking a lot of stitches to get somewhere. I'll post pictures if when they are done.

I've also been going through my crafting books (mainly quilting) and boy am I getting excited about quilting again. I have a few tops that are already pieced and just need to be quilted, so I'll probably start with those.

On the crochet front, I found a link through a dishcloth group I'm in for Crochet by Numbers you really have to check this site out. I sent him a picture and he has turned it into a pattern for me. I'm doing the test pattern right now to learn the techniques and then I'll probably do another before I tackle the picture. I'm thinking Christmas present if it works out. It is really amazing and if you crochet, I really suggest you check out the site.

Well I have to get running now. More later.

Sometimes you just have to plunge in

I have been working myself up to learning to crochet for quite some time now. Well after receiving a copy of the Carol Alexander crochet newsletter that featured Thread Bears I joined the Yahoo group Thread Animals and sat down in front of the computer to learn.

I found a web site that has videos of someone teaching you how to crochet. It's called NexStitch.

It was a life saver for me because try as hard as I do, I just can't pick it up from the books. I'm just a visual learner. Anyway, doing the chains and sample stitches got real boring, real quick so I went through the dozens of patterns I've tucked away and decided to try one. It is of a pig with a chicken on it's back and I did the chicken in one night. Here he is:


Other than my hypercritical judgments, and considering he's my first object from crochet and consisted of mainly single crochet and single crochet decrease I think I did pretty good. The next one will be even better. I've done the body for the piggy and have to finish the rest of him, the the chicken can take his place perched on his back.

On another note, lately I've been on a "give me cake-like substances and give them to me NOW!" binge. The reason is I'm back on prednisone thanks to a flare up of my Crohn's Disease. Prednisone always ramps up my appetite and increases my cravings for sugar immensely. So lately I've been giving in to the cravings. It's like a have a little monkey on my back who starts smacking me in the back of the head when the cravings hit. He's a persistent little monkey and he doesn't quit until he gets his fix.

Here's a blueberry swirl coffee cake I made using the ever popular Bisquick recipe. I made a cherry one last week and this week it was blueberry. In case you're wondering, don't worry I am not the only one eating this or you wouldn't be able to get me out of the door. My glaze kind of pooled in the middle because it wasn't completely cooled (it's the monkeys fault), but the end result was yummy nonetheless.

Thread Animals

Yesterday I received the latest issue of Talking Crochet...with Carol Alexander. She talks about a Yahoo group that is for making teddy bears and other animals from thread, needle punch and other sizes of thread and yarn.

They are gorgeous and adorable!! I immediately went to the group and signed up. This has made learning to crochet the number one thing on my list right now and I started tonight I have a disc (somewhere) to teach myself, but I can't find it. So I've found a web site with a lot of how to videos for crochet. As with knitting, the written instructions just aren't cutting it. I need to see someones hands doing it to catch on.

Not to mention there are hundreds of crochet patterns I've been collecting that I want to do (in addition to the knitting and quilting and sewing and cross stitch...I know, I know). There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I can't wait to make my first bear. Some of them are as small as 5/8". That just astounds me.

I'll update as I go along.