Flower Doily

Using the video tutorial here, I crocheted this cute doily in about 40 minutes.  It was fun and I love how simple it is.  I used cotton yarn in a navy blue color with a size H or 5.0 mm hook.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2020!

 It's January 1st, the start of a new year.  I have lots of projects on my list to do but I can now cross one of them off.  Last night I finished crocheting all the stars for my garland, I measured the window and put it up.  I crocheted 12 white cotton stars and 12 twine stars.  I'm really happy with this.

     The stars are decorating the living room window that have new drapes made from drop cloths (no sew).  I put these up last weekend.  Of course, I found the idea of drop cloth curtains on Youtube and fell in love.  I like the idea of the large pieces of material without sewing and the cost can't be beat.  Several people take the step of bleaching the drop cloths (make sure the cloths are 100% cotton to do this) but I like the linen look to them and left them the original color. 

     I used two 6' x 9' cloths to cover this window.  The materials cost $31.80.  I bought two drop cloths at $9.97 each at Walmart (there was no listing on the package as to what the material was, so I was careful when I washed and ironed but they washed and ironed like cotton) and two packs of rings with clips with seven clips in each package at $5.93 each. 

    They did shrink a bit in the preparation, so I had to measure them because there will be extra materials at the top that you fold it over so it looks like a decorative element.  You want that section to be even.  Most everyone has their overhang showing in the room but since I wanted to add my star garland, I placed my overhang on the window side of the drapes so you don't see it unless the sun is shining in. 

Christmas Has Come And Gone But I'm Not Done Making Decorations

I can't believe how many cute ideas I found to distract me this year.  I'm still working on several projects that are Christmas related.  I'm afraid that I will be Christmas crafting into the New Year.

I did manage to finish dear daughter's table runner, some small  tree ornaments, and her star garland, but I'm still working on the decoupaged cookie plates, my table runner, some fabric covered Christmas tree forms,  and a star garland for me.  My star garland may go up after I finish it and stay up all year.   Here is a picture of dear daughter's garland on her China cabinet.  She added fairy lights and it looks pretty.  I love the way this turned out and the stars are so easy to make. 

Other things I want to make are felt tree ornaments.   I found this picture on the internet and thought these felt ornaments were adorable.

I saw this picture a bunch of times for different ads.  The day I took this picture they were advertising Hobby Lobby craft store.  I have not been able to find this picture on Pinterest with a link to instructions or patterns, so dear daughter I made our own ornaments with green felt in the shape of a Christmas tree and we beaded them for her co-workers.

I also want to make some string art.  I found a string art star with instructions here.

As usual, I spent too much time watching YouTube videos showing items made from thrift store finds and I saw some interesting wood burning ornaments being made by using 4" wood rounds that you can get at Amazon.

One person was walking through a Antique store or 2nd hand shop and I also saw something I have to make.  It's a paper garland made from hymnal pages.  It's super simple, fan folding the pages and gluing a bunch together to make a long piece that you wind around a piece of twine.  I don't have a good picture of it but I took this screen shot from the video where I saw it.

I have looked on Pinterest and all over the Internet for a better picture or even instructions but could not find anything similar.  I fell in love with this garland, so much so that I bought a Baptist hymnal on Christmas day for this project.  I have the glue and twine.

I don't know when I'll finish Christmas decorations, I just hope I finish before next Christmas.

Jute Twine Crocheted Stars

   So I made seven of the white cotton stars (that's all I could get from one 120 yard skein of Peaches and Crème Cotton) and I took them to dear daughter's home and we ended up making a garland to put on her china cabinet in her dining room.  She added some battery operated fairy lights to it and  loves it.

   I am now making seven more stars in jute twine to make another garland to layer with the white star garland.

    This is what they look like in jute twine.

Breaking Out My Crochet Hook

Saw a crocheted star that I had to have.  Used my size H hook and some Peaches and Cream white cotton yarn.  Used the tutorial here.  Each star took about 15 to 18 minutes.  This was a fun easy project.  I'm going to make more.  Of course these will go to dear daughter for her Christmas tree.

The Fifth Anniversary

    I started this blog on October 17, 2014 to I can keep track of my crafting projects.  I just recently spent a few hours going back over my old posts to see if I had left anything out.  Nope, it's all there, warts and all.

Here are a few items that I recently completed that I want to show you.

   A proper turquoise ear warmer knit with my original ribbed pattern.

 

  Three new shopping bags made from three yards of home decor fabric.

 

   A couple of crocheted cotton coasters.  The top one was made using Jayda in Stitches YouTube video tutorial.  Link here.

 

    I found some extra fall kitchen towels I bought last year and lots of the black cat fabric in my stash and I made some fall hanging dishtowels and potholders for a friend.

    I made another water bottle carrier.  It's too tall but I don't care.  I was playing with resizing the pattern.

    I also made a lovely find on Amazon.  I found these fun needle threaders.  I love the flowers and the pastel colors.  These came in a pack of 50.  I haven't used any of these yet so I don't know how sturdy they are, but the wire feels like it is secure in the plastic flower.

      No update on the hexagon quilt top.  It's in a state of limbo for a while.  I have been finding all manner of small projects between sewing and knitting to take up my quilting time.  I may not start working on it again until next year.

An Amazing Idea

   I had an amazing idea last week.  DD needed a sweater to go with an outfit for a wedding she is going to in a few weeks and  she couldn't find anything on line or in the store that she really liked.  I showed her this yarn and the project was born.  We decided a simple shawl crocheted with this yarn will work just great with her outfit.

    This is the Red Heart Unforgettable Boutique in the Cappucino colorway that I tried to knit a hat  with holding it double a few months ago and that didn't work out at all.  I was wondering if I would ever find a project for this yarn.

   

    I found this simple crochet shawl tutorial on line. I started this on April 17, 2019 and its done.  I used up all the yarn I had in this colorway.  Here is a link to the youtube video:  Double Crochet All The Way Shawl.   I used a size  I hook (5.5 mm), the yarn actually calls for a size J hook (6.0 mm).  I like the fabric I got with the size I hook.

   I have now used this yarn twice with success, both times I crocheted shawls with it. Here is the other shawl link using the stained glass colorway.

Crocheted Flower Garland

    I crocheted up the green thread that I received on Saturday.   Since the flowers were already made I just had to make the vine to add the flower (spool pin doilies).  It took me about an hour and a half to get all these flowers on.  This turned out really well and I'm going to hang it in my living room between the two spot lights that are on the ceiling.

Flower Garland and Wedding Gift

     I'm going to use up all the spool pin doilies I haven't given away and make a garland to hang in my living room for spring.  I ordered a dark green cotton thread and I'm going to crochet a chain adding flowers as I go.  I have approximately 129 spool pin doilies made and I'm going to keep crocheting a chain until I run out of green thread.

   While I'm doing this, I'm knitting yellow dishcloths and making some pretty potholders for a special niece who is getting married in the summer.  I ordered two yards of this lovely fabric to make the potholders.  My DD and I had already purchased gifts from her registry, but I decided that she needed some homemade things in her kitchen.  She is not expecting this so this will be a nice surprise for her.

    Here's the fabric for the special potholders.

    I'm still working on my hexagon quilt top, or should I say, not working on it.  It seems I'm finding all manner of different projects to do that take me away from that monster.  I'll get back to it as soon as I finish my potholder dishcloth projects.

Secret Sewing Is Done, On To Selfish Sewing And Making

     I can't believe it's August already.  This year is flying by.  I've only made one trip to the beach this summer so my summer season has not been filled with fun and excitement, just working and doing regular household and life maintenance.   I am trying to schedule more beach day trips before the end of September.

    I'm so glad that I I finished five secret sewing projects last week for dear daughter's birthday in November.  It's hard for me to do secret sewing because I can't share it on social media until after it is gifted.

     My selfish sewing projects start with this adorable snow family fabric.  I found this at JoAnn's a couple of years ago and I made some hanging dishtowels with it to give away to my Christmas day hostess.  I have been wanting more of this fabric ever since.

    I found the snow family fabric again last weekend and had to buy it.   I made this quilted pillow with a whole cloth piece of the cute snow family fabric so I could see all the little family members.  I especially love the kitty and doggy in this print.  I cut the fabric a little bigger than my sixteen inch pillow form to allow for the quilting and I cross hatch quilted the top piece with a scrap of 80/20 Heirloom batting and a white muslin backing.  Then I joined this quilted top to an envelope backing.  It was really simple and I love it.

   The front of the pillow.

   The back of the pillow.

   Close up of snow kitty with a redbird on its head.

    I found another YouTube pieced pillow cover tutorial that I just love.  I have purchased red and green Christmas fabric to make one for me.  Here is a link to the tutorial:   quilted pillow cover tutorial.  This tutorial is really well done and I used the dimensions to make the whole cloth pillow cover that I made above.

    I still have to make the tote bags from my Hawaii souvenir fabric and that fabric is sitting on my ironing board waiting patiently.

    There is one more Christmas decoration that I want to make.  I have a crochet angel dishcloth pattern that I want to experiment with by making the pattern with worsted white cotton yarn combined with silver crochet size 10 thread.  I want to make a couple for me and a couple for dear daughter for Christmas decorations.  I'll have to see how the first one turns out before I commit to making four.  LOL.

    I have knit 24 dishcloths since the beginning of the year.  I am finished with knitting dishcloths for awhile.  I have plenty to give to dear daughter and keep for me.  I still have to get back to my hexagon quilt top and my crochet blankets that I started.

All The Colors

   I started another colorful crochet blanket this past week.  It's a ripple afghan.  This is a super simple pattern I got from a Mary Maxim Booklet called The Best of Mary Maxim Ripple Afghan Book.  I found that pattern booklet on Amazon.  The booklet has about 10 beginner to intermediate ripple afghan patterns in it.  I chose the classic ripple pattern.  I love the sharp peaks and valleys.  It's made with single crochet and I'm using tons of color in it.  Each row takes me about 25 minutes.  I'm adding whatever color wherever and however many rows I want.  I will be keeping track of the colors I use and in which order and I'll publish that list when I finish the entire afghan, just in case someone is interested.  This afghan will be made with all Knitpicks Acrylic Brava Worsted.  This is the beginning.

    Consulting my project list, I see it's time to start birthday sewing.  DD's birthday is in November and I want to make her a couple of things.  I will start those this next weekend.  I'm planning two projects, one will take a couple of hours to make and the second one will take about double that time.  I don't mind making things for DD, she is completely worthy of any homemade items.  She uses whatever I make for her and always takes time to tell everyone that it is handmade by her Mom.   So no photos of these projects until they are gifted.

      I'm also planning to make to make DD a birthday cake this year.  I stated a tradition several years ago and I would make a rum cake for her birthday each year.  She loves the cake and it is so easy to make.  I skipped last year because I didn't feel up to it, but I'm making one this year and I even bought the rum already.  I had to get the rum first because it's usually that last ingredient I think of and I end up having to make a special trip to the liquor store because I only go into the liquor store to get rum for this cake every couple of  years.

   After secret sewing is done I will get started on my souvenir fabric tote bag projects using the fabrics I purchased in Hawaii.  Here is a picture of the pieces all cut out.  Yeah.  I don't know why it took me so long to start these.  I can't wait to use them.   I'm using Crafty Gemini's Must Have Tote Bag Pattern with the only difference being I'm using two fabrics for the tote bag instead of one.  This tote bag pattern is the best.  I have been using it for years.  It costs three dollars and you get a picture tutorial and a link to a video tutorial.  Thank you, Vanessa.

   

The First Afghan I Ever Made

   I made a black, white and grey acrylic granny ripple afghan for my big brother in 1983.  I bought the pattern and the acrylic yarn at my local JoAnn's Fabrics.  I had not made anything as big as an afghan before and I always forget about this one when I think about old projects.  I asked my brother to take this picture the other day so I could document my first big project with a crochet hook.  He loves this afghan and I love him for using it and loving it all these years.

Fun Crochet - A New Project Start

Now that the pesky knitting project is finished, I have given myself permission to have some fun with colors and I started a beautiful crochet project.

I started a granny square blanket and I'm using lots of colors in it.  The squares are three rounds with a beautiful pop of color in the center surrounded by cream colored yarn.  I'm using a G hook.  And of course, I'm using all acrylic yarn.  The cream surround is KnitPicks Brava Worsted and the color centers are also acrylic, some are the KnitPicks Brava Worsted and others are from Red Heart. These squares work up really quickly.  They measure four inches square and it will take approximately 160 to make a decent size blanket.

Crocheted Poncho

     I started this poncho last November after I bought a poncho pattern.  I did not make the pattern that I bought, but I ended up getting an easier pattern from a youtube video.  It was super easy to make.  I made the poncho then I added the ribbed collar.  This is the first poncho I have every made and I will not hesitate to make another when I have some time.

    I used acrylic yarn for this poncho and it's really soft.  I like to work with acrylic yarn.  I don't have to worry about bugs eating my project if I use acrylic.  I used Lion Brand Heartland in Great Smoky Mountains colorway that I bought from Michael's.  I bought ten skeins to make this poncho and I have three skeins left.  It's a beautiful dark grey color.

Hearts Galore

   I am officially finished making Valentine's Day crocheted hearts.  I pulled out my yarn stash and found some other colors other than the bright pink to make these hearts.  I even found some leftover red wool yarn.. 

   Hearts!!!

Crochet Hearts for Valentine's Day.

   I found a crochet tutorial on youtube that I really like to make pretty hearts.  The tutorial is easy to follow as well.  It takes about 22 minutes to make a heart using the tutorial.  Here's a link to the tutorial I used:  Crochet Heart Video Tutorial

     You can use any weight yarn or thread and a hook size to match the material.  I used some pink Red Heart Acrylic yarn that I had leftover from a previous project (worsted weight) with a size G crochet hook.

    I think these hearts would be pretty with a picot edge.

Hexagon Quilt Update

   I have finished another block in my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I have two done now.  Only 33 more to make.  😎  I have been taking my sweet time with this project.  No rush.  I have plenty of quilts to keep my warm when the weather turns cold.

 

   I received the yarn for my Hotel of Bees Shawl on Friday and I wound all nine skeins into yarn balls so they are ready to use.  I should take a picture of my yarn.  I also took some time to read through some of the pattern last night.  I don't know when I will start this project, but I want to finish my Christmas hanging dishtowels before I start this.  I still have two dishtowels to embroider.  Once they get the embroidery done I have to make the top part.  I didn't get a chance to finish the embroideries on the last two towels this past weekend because . . . 

   I spent a lot of the weekend buying mulch for my large flower bed in the front of the house.  I have a small car so I can only buy 4 bags of mulch at a time.  I made four trips to the home improvement store buying mulch Friday night and Saturday morning to get enough mulch to cover this space.  I used 15 bags of mulch in this space.  I swear my roses look happier since I put the mulch down. 

   

   

Hotel Of Bees Crochet Shawl Project

   The Hotel of Bees shawl pattern was making the rounds earlier in the year.  I heard really good reviews of how well written the pattern was and I saw some beautiful finished shawls in youtube videos and on Ravelry.

   I ordered my copy of the pattern about a month ago.  I spent some time trying to find the yarn I wanted to use.  The designer made her sample with a cotton/acrylic blend yarn and I was trying to find a similar yarn  I found Knit Picks Comfy in Sport weight and ordered it this morning in three different colorways.  Three skeins of Peony (dusty pink), three skeins of Parchment (a natural color), and one skein of flaming0 (light pink).

   While I'm waiting for my yarn, I have printed the pattern (14 pages)  and I'm going to give it a good read.

The Return

     I've been too busy to blog the last five months but I have been crafting and trying new things so I'll try to do a little catch up here.

     I finished my Carpenter Star quilt with simple quilting and an equally simple backing.  This quilt is made up of 100 squares, I made the half square triangles with 8" squares.  I love it.

    I finished my colorful pinwheel quilt and did simple quilting with a pretty lavender back and binding.

   I also made a a third string quilt which I offered for sale to my two older brothers.  The oldest brother bought it and loves it.  I make 10" string blocks using full size paper towels which finish at 9.5" and I make the quilt 7 blocks by 7 rows.  They make great size lap quilts.

  I found a Youtube video on how to knit fingerless mitts and I made a pair for myself and for my daughter out of acrylic yarn.  Love these.

   I bought myself some pom pom makers and I had to crochet a hat to try them out.

    I used my embroidery machine and made some embroidered hanging dishtowels for my brothers for St. Patrick's Day.  I wanted to remind them of our Mom who was 100% Irish and she loved St. Patrick's Day.

    I just recently finished this basket weave quilt.  I took the pattern from this website.  I counted how many squares the blogger used of each color and I cut 6" squares of three different colors of fabric and put mine together.  Love this quilt.

   I made a country floral quilt that I absolutely love.  I bought 49 - 10" floral squares from an eBay seller, put them together and had a quilt top in no time.  I backed it with some simple floral fabric and did my usual grid and diagonal quilting.

    I made another scrappy top using 3" squares of fabric and I backed it with a fun zebra print.  Love this quilt as well.

    I've been wanting a spool pin doily for all of my sewing machines and I couldn't find any for sale so I made up my own pattern.  It took me three tries to find something really nice to make them with.  I tried yarn and number 10 crochet thread, but the yarn was too thick and the crochet thread was too thin.  I settled on embroidery thread.  I had a ton of of it and this was a good way to use it up.  I ended up crocheting a lot of these little doilies, it turned into a little obsession.  I did give some away but I still have a bunch that I want to use for a pillow cover.   Here is how I make my doilies. 

I used six strands of embroidery floss with a size 1 (2.35 mm) steel crochet hook.

Round 1: Chain 4, join with a slip stitch to the first chain to make a ring.

Round 2: Chain 3 (counts as a double crochet) and make 11 double crochets in the ring for a total of 12 stitches, join with a slip stitch to the third chain in the beginning chain 3.

Round 3: Chain 1, make a single crochet in the first stitch, chain 3 and single crochet in the same stitch(these are picot stitches), make a single crochet in the next stitch, chain 3 and single crochet in the same stitch, do this in each of the 12 stitches around, join with a slip stitch to the beginning 
chain 1.

Round 4: (Another round of picot stitches) Chain 1, make a single crochet in the first chain 3 space, chain 3 and single crochet in the chain 3 space, make a single crochet in the next chain 3 space, chain 3 and single crochet in the same chain 3 space, do this in each of the 12 chain 3 spaces around, join with a slip stitch to the beginning chain 1, cut yarn and weave in ends.

    Each doily takes about 15 minutes to make.  I also made up some two and three color versions as well that were fun to do.  

    I knitted a tea pot cozy for the tea pot I keep on my stove top.  Color stranded knitting is new to me and I had a good time trying this out.  The curly q decorations are crocheted.

   I crocheted a shawl using the free Frosted Layer Cake pattern.   Here is a link to the YouTube video on how to do it.  Youtube video on how to make frosted layer cake shawl.  It was a fun pattern and so simple.  

     I'm currently working on making a new Irish Chain quilt to replace this one that I recently gave away to a friend.  I can't make it exactly because the fabric is no longer available, but I'm making it similar.