Little Heart Decorations

I found these fun paper mache hearts at Hobby Lobby and I'm using them to decorate around the house.  I painted two of them navy blue to match my new kitchen curtains and added a bow and a hanging loop.  I have two of these hanging in my kitchen.

I have a few more of these that I will paint, decorate and put in my bedroom.  Pictures of those later.

One More Valentine Decoration

   I like to hang garlands from two set of spotlights in my ceiling for holidays and seasons.  It's a great way to keep decorations from prying kitty noses and paws.  I found some ultra cute red gingham hearts at Hobby Lobby yesterday and I had to have them to make a garland for Valentine's Day (even though they were not on sale).

   These hearts needed loops and I know the easy way would be to get some red ribbon and glue that to the hearts, but I don't have any pretty red ribbon, so today at 5:00 a.m. I was rooting around in my fabric stash looking for some red fabric to make loops.  I wasn't sure I would find any because I don't have a lot of red fabric because of the dye running issues it has, so I usually stay away from red. 

   I was lucky I found a piece of red with tiny white polka dots on it in and that became the fabric for my loops.  I cut the fabric into 2" x 4" pieces and folded it up, ironed them, and sewed the folded edge closed..  I plugged in the glue gun and glued the ends together to make the loops and glued the loops onto the back of the hearts.  This project took about an hour and a half from fabric finding to finish.  So easy, fun and adorable.  I'll be stringing these up with some jute twine.

Scrappy Valentine Day Hearts

           I'm supposed to be working on Christmas decorations but I found a picture of a scrappy heart quilt and since it's almost Valentine's Day, I had to make a couple.  This is a  pattern on etsy that popped up when I did a Google search for heart quilts.  The picture that popped up had a nice grid and you could just count how many of square and half square triangle you need in each row.   Since it was so easy to look at and copy I did not want to pay $4.00 for the pattern.  So I guesstimated what sizes I would make the half square triangles (I used 3" squares) and regular squares (2.75" squares) and just started cutting and sewing.  The seams don't all line up but that's okay, I like it like that.  I found all this fabric in my stash of scraps and pieces and I even got a chance to use some scrap batting in them.  It sure was nice to be able to use material I already had and not have to go shopping.

          I did simple cross hatch quilting and I put two triangles on the back to slip a dowel stick in for hanging.   I'll be making more of these for other holidays as well as just decorating around the house.  I want to make a blue and yellow one for the kitchen to keep up all year round and a green and pink one for my bedroom.  I may have to make an animal print one for the cat's room as well.

Finished Lace Scarf and Starting A Hat

   Finishing this scarf makes me want to make a bunch of these in lots of colors.  Love the simplicity of the pattern and the finished scarf.

    This is not a flattering picture but I was trying to get the full length in the picture.  I think I stopped knitting at just over 6 feet in length.   I did not use the full skein of the second skein that I started, so I have leftover yarn, but I still love the scarf.  This scarf fits doubled around the neck perfectly.

   And this is close up of the stitches and how pretty they are.

I started another knitting project with a yarn I have had for at least two years when I bought six skeins of it because I loved it so much.  I made a couple of items with it in 2016.  I made a knitted neck warmer and a crocheted scarf with it and now I need a hat to complete the set.  This is Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the Cappuccino colorway.  It's so soft and pretty.  To use up this yarn I decided to make my go to hat pattern "The Boyfriend Hat" by Stephanie Nicole.  The pattern link is here.  I'm going to use up the last four skeins of this yarn on this hat so I'm knitting this with double strands and I will knit this hat until it's gone so this will be a stocking cap style hat.

Finding The Perfect Project For Yarn

   I have 7 skeins of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the Stained Glass Colorway.  You can see it here:  link to picture of yarn colorway.  I pulled this yarn out a couple of nights ago because I thought I found the perfect pattern for it.  I found a free knitted shawl pattern that is called Spiral Staircase Shawl on the Ravelry website which I thought would be a good match for this yarn.  I tried to start twice but I was not happy with the result.

    I've knitted with this yarn before and I enjoyed the knit and my project turned out really well.  I made a knitted neck warmer in another colorway of this yarn.  It was an easy 3 x 2 rib pattern (link to that post here.)  I also crocheted a nice scarf in this yarn and that was easy to make as well (link to that post here.)

   I really want to use this yarn but I was having a hard time finding a pattern for this colorful yarn until I found the Granny Stripes Shawl pattern.  The easy pattern is found here.  The original pattern calls for color changes every two rows so my colorful yarn makes color changes so easy, like cheating.

    This shawl can be made as big or as small as you want.  I haven't decided how big I want to make this, but I'm planning on crocheting as least 5 skeins of this yarn and see how big that is.

   This is my shawl after using one skein.

More Knitting

    I'm really having a lot of fun knitting these days.  Yesterday I bought some soft Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in Cappuccino colorway at Michael's for $4.51 including tax after using a 30% off coupon.  I've been wanting to make a ribbed neck warmer with a very soft acrylic yarn for the last couple of years, but I never got around to it.  This yarn is a lovely cream and soft light brown that made lovely stripes in this project.

    I cast on 100 stitches using a long tail cast on and knit a 3 x 2 rib for 7 inches.  I used size 8  16" circular needles for this project.  I like to use stitch markers to count off every 10 stitches so I can keep track of my knits and purls.  I really enjoy knitting this rib pattern.  It's a pattern I learned making a favorite ribbed hat and it goes very quickly, so I just cast on as if I'm starting the hat and then I bind off after knitting 7 inches of ribbing, it's nice and stretchy and the perfect length on my neck.  This pattern would also make a nice ear warmer/headband by knitting 4 inches length instead of 7.  It would be fun in a bulky yarn or a worsted yarn held double made with big needles.  I could make bunches of these, but I really don't need them, so I'm starting a different knitting project tomorrow.

Past Projects - Quilt and Crocheted Afghan

I made this simple quilt for my brother in January this year.  I actually emailed him last year and asked him about colors and patterns so that he and his wife could have a say in the end result but they never made a decision.  So I made him this one.  This quilt is similar to the very first quilt that I made in 2012.  The quilt I made in 2012 was given away at a family reunion.  My brother really liked that quilt, so that's what I decided he would get.  He loves his quilt.  The back is solid dark blue with a few of the pinwheels in the center of the back to give it interest.  I did the binding in the same dark blue and the quilting is all stitch in the ditch.

You can see my quilt inspectors, Taffy on the table and Merlin on the floor doing their quality control inspection.

Since my brother does not let his wife use the quilt, I crocheted her an afghan and sent that up to her in August.  It's a one color afghan made up of 80 - 8" granny squares.  I made it with Red Heart Super Saver Solid Yarn (acrylic).  It's big and very warm.  She loves her afghan.  This is a picture of it spread out over my sofa.  

  I'm currently working on making a new harness for my dog, Wolfgang.  It's cut out but I have not done any stitching on it.  Once I finish the harness, I will be working on a pillow cover using some Laurel Burch fabrics I have been collecting for it..  I bought an 18" pillow form at Walmart last weekend for that project.  I have fabric for a quilt, I have fabric for a patriotic door decoration, I have supplies to make potholders to match my new kitchen curtains, and I also have some fabric to cover the new table top ironing board that I bought a couple of months ago.  That's a short list of things I want to do.  I also have one embroidery and two cross stitch projects ready to be started.