Finished in time for Christmas Giving

I just finished the last afghan to be given for Christmas.

This is the one from the Bernat CAL.

It will be going to my daughter as the colors should compliment her house.

And this one is going to my granddaughter for her bedroom.

She however, knows I was working on it as I wanted her approval on the colors.

More holiday crafting

Today my daughter was back to work on more plates.

She made real progress and hopes to finish next time she comes over.

While she did that I worked on making some 'natural' ornaments for her tree using walnuts and glitter. This was another easy project!

I look forward to seeing her tree.

Snow Ornaments

Here are photos of the snow ornaments I mentioned in the last post.

I am afraid between the reflections and the heavy sun blocking screens they are a bit difficult to see.

These were so easy and fun to make.

The ones we saw in the store were filled with small Styrofoam balls

but I chose to use some plastic pellets left over from stuffing toys.

Just pour in a small amount and replace the top.

Then using a metallic marking pen 'paint' snowflakes on the outside.

I chose blue to match my kitchen and to show up better.

If you were to put these on a tree silver or gold would probably show up well and be quite stunning. I tried writing on my test ornament but quickly discovered that is much more difficult that it looks to get good results.

Snowman updates

I had debated adding arms to the snowman tree topper but it took me a while to decide that he definitely needed them and then to find something appropriate to use.

And the bottle cap snowmen just seemed bare without a scarf so had to update them as well. I think I am now happy with this tree.

Next will be some ornaments for the kitchen...

Cowboy Christmas

The cinnamon ornaments were dry enough to hang today so up they went.

And now the tree is complete. Or should I say, ready for presents?

Making tree ornaments

For the past several years I have gone back to using a 3 ft fake tree that I bought one year when it began to look like my husband would not be back from his deployment in time to go cut our own tree. The only problem with using this smaller tree is that I get bored with the ornaments since the old traditional ones are too large and have thus been passed on to my grown children.

Therefore I rotate themes and most of them are hand made. This fall we spotted some cute ornaments made from bottle caps that were not for sale but merely a store decoration. Or so we thought as when we went back for a second look the entire tree full of ornaments had been sold. Being as I have a bag full of root beer caps I decided to try my hand and this is what emerged.

It quickly took on a cowboy theme and I painted a cardboard cone I had in my stash box to match and decorated him accordingly.

By that I mean I used the cowboy hat ornament I made from a doll hat and some leather cording .

Of course every cowboy needs a neckerchief so I cut a bandana in fourths and knotted them for more ornaments.

I will share a photo of the finished tree in my next post.

Gifted

This is my friend Darlene modeling the jacket I crocheted for her. She is nice and tall and it looks better on her than mine does on me. She even put on the necklace I made and gave her.

This is the secret gift that I was working on the latter part of the summer. It just took me awhile to get it shipped off to her.

Holiday Dishes

This past summer my daughter was talking about wanting to paint some holiday dishes, like ceramic classes. We looked into some in this area and were put off by the prices and the lack of options. So I suggested something I had run across on a blog somewhere.

Well, she was very excited and a couple of weeks ago we went looking for clear glass dishes which we found on sale. Then off to the fabric store for some Thanksgiving appropriate fabric.

For our trial run we just used some Christmas fabric I had on hand. I decided to get daring and add glitter which came out far too fast and guess what? It did not want to come back off of the Mod Podge coating! So my plate was not very good as the glitter prevented a good adherence. Kristy's however came out great.

So yesterday she started on her set of dishes. She is quite good at this and it went much easier this time. But it will take a few more sessions as she wants to do these small plates with a print and then dinner plates in a solid color. Possibly decorate some bowls as well and we are looking at a service for 12! Hmmm how many days until Thanksgiving? But they are coming out great. When finished they will all need to be sprayed with a sealant.

She is already thinking about future holidays. She has always been an overachiever! LOL

Meanwhile at the other side of the table I worked on a couple of my own crafts. Here is a photo of the tablets. The bottle caps will come later.

Halloween in the Kitchen

These are the traditional ghost cookies at my house. My family waits eagerly each year for their arrival! There are also Muddie Buddies, which are fun to munch as well.

This year my daughter had been wanting to try using fondant.

So when I saw ghosts made with fondant we had our excuse/reason.

These are the bases, which have to be made ahead to dry.

Some have malted milk ball heads and some have jelly bean heads (since I could not find black gum drops anywhere) and some were left plain.

And here are the finished ghosts. Aren't they cute? The chocolate chip faces were really hard to do as they are so tiny and do not want to stick. I like the candy faces that you just 'carve' out as you can get more detail but maybe I should have made them larger. They are still drying. We had no idea this stuff gets quite hard and is made entirely out of unhealthy ingredients so we decided there is no way we will try eating one. But they are cute and now we have tried fondant.

Fall Fun at last

I finally finished the surprise for my friend, though it still needs to be blocked so I was able to whip up a cute little baby hat for my little brother's first granddaughter. And new tea cozies! I love this simple pattern. Front and center is an apple bookmark that I intended to do last month. Better late than never.

Actually I have been too busy to get much crocheting done until this week. I broke off a tooth and had to have a root canal done with a post and crown prep, then a temporary and impressions the next day. All of which left me in pain. Pain that is bearable as long as I sit still. Now there is an invitation to crochet if ever I heard one! I have moved on to an afghan for my granddaughter now.

Aprons finished

I forgot to post photos of the aprons but they are finished and I am told her students loved them.

Slippers

These slippers are called Buttoned-Cuff Boots from a kit I got at Annie's Attic. A fun and easy pattern that only lacked the decorative buttons. Unfortunately the ones I chose do not show up too well in this photograph. Kind of a translucent purple with silver. These will be nice when the weather cools off. Our first cold front is due in tomorrow. Guess you have to be local to call a high of 91˚ and a low of 70˚ a cold front.

Starring...

Here are the star pillows I have been working on to go with this patriotic afghan. I really like the combination.

These are more tea pot cozies. I made them just like the Christmas ones but used blue ties and stars instead of holly.

The delay in finishing the pillows was due to having to alter my late husband's uniform to fit my son (shown in the photo above). Adding 8" to this really well made top was not easy but amazingly it did not show at all, even if you knew it.

The reason he wanted it was to do a reenactment of that famous kiss for the ceremony at the American Legion on August 14th, honoring the WWII vets. I think it was worth the trouble everyone went to.

Painting Aprons

We finally had an evening that was cool enough to be outside to start painting aprons for my daughter's students. This is just the first step but aren't they pretty and bright? The pizza delivery guy wanted to know what we were doing and a neighbor came over to see what project we were working on now. In the spring I usually go out in the driveway to baste a quilt as it takes a lot of room. And sometimes I sit out there to tole paint and of course I open the garage door when I am firing the kiln and working on jewelry so there is often something going on. However, it is unusual to find me out here when the weather is this hot.

We ran out of paint and aprons so we will be back out there as she needs 44 aprons. And we are running out of time. The trouble is I have to finish altering my late husband's uniform and a nurse's uniform by Saturday. I will definitely try to get photos of those. That is for my son and his girlfriend. More on that later.

Patriotic T P Cover

I finished crocheting this toilet paper roll cover a few days ago but finally got the stars sewn on the top. If I make another I think I will use beads or something to secure the center of the star sequins as I am not as happy with the thread showing as I had hoped I would be. Ah well.

I have one more patriotic set I am working on and then I think I will have it out of my system. I am moving along with that so photos will follow soon.

Backgrounds

As many of you have discovered over the last day or two the backgrounds for some blogs had to be edited to avoid having them dropped by Photobucket. Not much warning and a busy schedule made this poor timing. So with a push from my friend Darlene I made the changes to my other blogs but left this one just to see what it would look like when the sky fell. Yep blackness! LOL

I had actually been ready for a change for some time but always being busy had kept me from taking the time to do anything about it. So prompted by the black staring back at me I made these changes. I hope you like them.

And now back to finishing the latest crochet project and posting photos.

Another Crocheted Tote Bag

Another bag finished. This one just seems to stretch and stretch and stretch.

The pattern was a free one from Michael's.

I have fun making bags but I think it is time to move on to something else.

Crocheted Thread Tote Bag

Here is the latest tote bag. I've been at it awhile as the thread makes my hands ache any more so I cannot work on it very long at a time. It isn't as large as the hobo bag but a bit more delicate.

Pompon or Pompom?

Here at last is the afghan I began ages ago it seems.

This is one mom has on her bed (only in different colors) that she made possibly in the 70's since it is those colors. We could not find the pattern when I was there almost two years ago, just the swatch, so I brought that home and figured it out on my own. Except I could not remember if there was an edging or not so when I got to that point I set it aside until I could go look at mom's. Of course when I went to look at hers this month there was the pattern, tucked into the afghan! I made a copy this time and discovered that while I came out the same I did not crochet it in quite the same manner. Oh well. It looks OK.

And no wonder I could not find the pattern the first time as it is called "Crocheted Afghan with Pompons". Really? No wonder I passed over that instruction. Do you see any pompons? Me neither. But then I discovered mom put fringe on the ends instead of the pompons it called for!

And just for the record I always thought they were called pompoms. Do you suppose that was a typo or do other people call them pompons? Post a comment and let me know what you think. By the way this was taken from some unknown magazine and used 5 or 6 different colors in the sample and mom's afghan.

Crocheted Hobo Bag

This is the Hobo Bag I crocheted while visiting my mother this past week.

It was a project I had gotten the cotton yarn for but never started last year - or maybe the year before. Anyway, it made up into a large firm bag in all double crochet. A nice mindless pattern for working on while chatting with family.

Unlike the one I am working on here at home. I have eight of the thirteen squares finished for that one but then again it is out of thread so slower going.

Wristlets

My wrists/hands are slowly improving as long as I am careful and do not spend much time on the computer! So here is the pair of wristlets I just finished for my son's girl friend's birthday. (I do not think she knows about this blog - hope not or I have spoiled the surprise.) It is from a pattern at Caron which you can see here.

Spool Knitted Medallion

I finally felt up to working on the medallion. My first try I had cord left over and discovered I had to resize the pattern. This worked out much better though not perfect. I guess it is OK for a first try with sore hands. I just laid the pattern on a piece of foam core and trimmed to fit. That made it easy to pin and yet free to turn to weave in proper places.

Here it is completed with the 'chain' added.

You can almost see the sparkle in the yarn.

I feel like it should be a firmer cord.

But this was a fun project to learn 2 peg spool knitting.

Spool knitting revisited

Remember spool knitting? Take an old wooden spool (now they are plastic and hollow) and hammer 4 evenly spaced nails in one end then wrap, lift, tug around and around and eventually a knitted tube appears out the other end of the middle of the spool. The long tubes were often referred to as horse reins (can't you picture the kids playing?).

Well I recently watched a video tutorial by Noreen Crone-Findlay on 2 peg spool knitting. Now that was news to me. It forms a flatish braid and goes much faster! I cannot find that old wooden spool anywhere (it will turn up eventually) so I found a nice 4 peg one and a 5 peg version at the store that are made from plastic with metal 'nails' that are larger and more comfortable to hold and gave it a try. The 2 peg version that is; by only using 2 of the pegs.

Lion Brand Yarn is offering one of Noreen's patterns for free and I just had to try that out so while getting the spool I also picked up some of that lovely Vanna's glamour yarn and quickly 'knitted' the pieces. Now I really should not have been doing this as I am trying to recover from some tree trimming last week that set off my Carpal Tunnel so this just really aggravated it and set me back. But what's a crafter to do? Sit and watch TV with IDLE HANDS?

I will post some photos when I manage to finish this.

Back to the Wreath

Remember the wreath I made earlier this spring when I pruned the grapevine? You can see it here if you missed it. Well, today while my tall grandson was here I had him get down the box with some decorations that I made and just never use. I think they go well on this wreath for a quick job. The neat thing is I will probably be able to make a new one each year and get quite a variety. In the meantime I am busy turning the grape leaves into jewelry. But that is a story for another day.

Zentangle Cards

Have you seen any Zentangle yet? It was new to me. But of course once you hear of something new and start looking you begin to see more and more. It seems to me to be just doodling. It is fun. Reminded me of sitting in Freshman English class again drawing when I should have been listening. Whew! Yeah, I was more into drawing than figuring out what some dead guy really meant.

Anyway, there is a site on Zentangle where they vaguely describe it and then offer to sell a $50.00 kit with supplies and of course a CD. And even offer classes. Now I am sure there is a lot of the Zen part I am missing and the techniques, by not parting with my cash but I personally think all that would take the fun out of doodling. It was the no rules part that made it so freeing.

So instead I got out some paper and pencils I already owned and trimmed it down to a small size as indicated on some blogs and just started doodling. I started with some ideas from ones I saw and then relaxed and enjoyed.

I tried to describe it to friends and family but it was not easy. So I scanned, printed and trimmed them down and inserted them in cards I made. Now I can share my doodles. Just for fun!

Give it a try and let me know what you think. And what you do with yours. Here is a photo of mine:

Sprang

This is the quilt frame that I converted to use as a Sprang loom. I've made a few modifications as I have gone along. I know it is difficult to see among the clutter. But my dog soon piled his toys around/over it so it actually got worse.

Here are photos of the Sprang I have been working on. The red one is done in #3 Cotton Crochet Thread with 4 rows of Common alternating with 4 rows of Plait.

This next one I used size 5 Cotton Perle and 4 rows of Common followed by only 2 rows of Plait. It still had a tendency to twist so I blocked it which took care of that.

I can see where a person could spend a lot of time exploring the variations of this craft, if one only had the time.

Empty Nest Syndrome or making room for Sprang

I hear a number of my friends complaining of empty nests and missing their kids and their kid's friends. I suffered from that too. Fortunately I had a light case that only lasted a few days. You know, long enough for the paint and carpets in their rooms to dry so I could move in!

I was thinking just today how much I enjoy having all my projects out where I can just walk into a room and pick up where I left off. One room became a sewing/craft room and another the studio. Well the studio also takes up half the garage. Half the dining room table has art supplies spread out with the latest Zentangle on top. 'My chair' in the living room is strategically surrounded with crochet work and today I converted a quilt frame into a Sprang loom and set up at the other chair which already had a basket full of tatting supplies next to it.

So do my friends just not have hobbies? Maybe I should share some of mine. I love doing that. Or maybe their kids just moved farther away? That probably is it. Because I see my kids and grandkids every week and talk to them in between. If I would get with it and start texting I could have more contact but then when would I find time for my projects? No, I think I have just the perfect balance. And I still see their friends or stay in touch. My theory has always been "If you bake cookies, they will come". Well, some of them prefer my fudge.

So do I understand the empty nest syndrome? Sure. I loved those years when the kids were younger and we were all together laughing and teasing and sharing. But I haven't forgotten the slamming doors (girls) and the arguing (boys) and the hours sitting up worrying as they grew up and ventured out.

This time is great too though as I enjoy my freedom and get to honestly compliment my grandson's band knowing that I don't have to listen to them practice every week, or adore my granddaughter's look knowing I don't have to share a bathroom with her. And how blessed am I that they invented remote controls and dishwashers before my kids moved out? It isn't really an empty nest from where I sit. It just got roomier. Not all change is easy. But life is easier when you figure out how to appreciate what you have.

By the way, when I get the Sprang figured out I will post some photos.

Spring Cards

I had a few minutes today to make some of my quick spring cards between other projects. This is a design I have used in the past to share seeds from my Chives:

This time I had saved seeds from a milkweed plant. So first I put a photo with a label on some seed packet templates and printed them:

After assembling the packets and filling them with seeds, I made the cards with some simple changes:

And lets not forget some coordinating envelopes:

Some might wonder why I would share seeds from a weed but you can read about my milkweed plant here. Maybe this year the caterpillars will survive to become more Monarch Butterflies! Anyway, I would love to share the joy of watching these butterflies with my friends. Even weeds can serve a purpose.