Pillowcase Crochet Along

I finally got around to uploading my yarn and fabric choice for my On The Edge pillowcase crochet along put on by Cassie over at You Go Girl. Cassie did an AWESOME four week tutorial on sewing a pillowcase and adding a crocheted edge. Week one starts here and week four, the final installment, was posted today here. She even provided a cute little button for people to add to their blog...and it's orange!! I love orange!! I had so much fun learning how to make her "posh" pillowcase (as she calls it) and now the crochet edge. Since it was just posted today, I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the week. YAY! Then I can post final pics. Oh, and I ended up going with the pinker fabric on the left, it's not that pink, and it has a green it in that matches the yarn perfect. Since everything was from my stash, I can count this project as a 100% Destash Along project. Another big YAY!! Thank you Cassie for sharing such a GREAT tutorial!

Crafty Update

I have finally overcome my laziness of getting on the "slow" computer and downloading all my pictures from the past several months. I just dread getting on this computer because our new laptop is on and going in a snap! This first pic is a crocheted baby blanket that I made a friend who had her baby in July. I finished it the day she was born and delivered it the following day. I'm not that experienced, but I wonder if blocking it would have helped out the waves that occurred as it got larger? Not sure. I made up the pattern, it's a basic granny square with about six rows of double crochet in between the center and the outer edge. I used Lions Brand Homespun in their Tudor colorway. It took two full skeins and turned out SO SOFT!These Gabu's are all saying farewell to the pretty gray Gabu. She was made and sent as a PIF. The other four Gabu's were all made for office coworkers over the past year. There's my first Gabu, the Red Receptionist, Black Velvet Gabu with sparkly eyes, Camo Gabu with a line of black to look like his unibrow, then the green Gabu with a tuft of brown hair and a smile (he was for my son). Gabu was designed by Roxycraft and you can get the free pattern here. They are quick and easy to make, my son loves his!These owls were so fun to make! My sister-in-law came to visit and we decided to each make one, me, her and my toddler. Then I thought we could glue them to a cut branch from the backyard to cluster them all together. It turned out so cute!! We then sent them home with my mother-in-law. I got this idea from BabyCenter in an email they had sent me. You can get your instructions to make them here. It's a great craft to do with little ones since you first have to collect half the pieces. I used the hot glue gun instead of regular glue so that they would stay together faster.These were two of three Gnome Babies that I knitted to donate to our churches craft bazaar. They were another free pattern from a blog I found. You can check the pattern out here. The larger one sold and the other two were still there yesterday when we went to church. They are sitting on the four baby blankets that I sewed last week. I had the sewing machine out all week to get those baby blankets done for the church and my sons dragon costume completed.

This last picture is one I took for fun. I spilled a drop of milk on the counter when I was making my morning coffee. This is how it landed then splatted. I was so amazed I had to take a picture. You can see my feet on the floor wearing pink Smartwools, THE BEST sock your foot can ever wear. We used to get them at REI when my husband worked there, now we only get them for Christmas from family (they are not cheap!).

Well, that's what I've been up to in the crafty department for the past several months....well, really the past week mostly. The rest of it was before baby #2 was born. Enjoy!

Featuring...

A new baby Orangutan!! You have GOT TO check out this beautiful new baby orangutan...he was created by Planet June who's been working on him for a year or so. There's more pictures on her blog, they're cute! She has so many wonderful crochet patterns, they're just awesome. Someday I hope to be able to purchase a few and make cute little creatures for my kiddies.

Happy Wednesday!

Announcement

Well, I'm starting to recover from being exhausted constantly. I'm not ill or fighting some infection,...I'm carrying a bun in the oven! First trimester, like the first time around, has been nothing but exhaustion. This time around, though, I also have a lack of appetite. Most foods are gagging me and when something sounds good, I better eat it before the window of opportunity passes. Within this past week I've finally started getting some energy back. Last weekend we cleaned the house after about a month of neglect. All I could manage to do was go to work, come home to the sofa, then go to bed for twelve hours. The dishes piled up, the toys spread everywhere and ALL the crafts got crammed in the corner.

I did manage this cute little nightgown and robe ensemble for my friends daughter who got a new doll for Christmas. I had several 18" doll clothes patterns, but her's was a 14" doll. So I cut the pieces out that I wanted and photocopied them down to hopefully the right size. By my calculations, if I shrunk them to be 77% of the size, they would fit a 14" doll. Laying them next to Cowboy Bob makes them look like they would fit him perfect...

He wasn't too thrilled at the suggestion and because I woke him from his nap. He's still not happy that I haven't made him any jeans, he's embarrassed about the boxers. Cowboy Bob is another Knitted Babe that I made last summer for my son. He really enjoyed hanging out with Suzy Q while she was here. I recently learned that she is enjoying her new home and has been name Heidi. However, Cowboy Bob's idea is from the other book by Claire Garland Dream Toys. This was another book I fell in love with at first site, mainly because I had to make the mermaid from it (another to-do on my list).

Is it odd that after I took this picture my son insisted that Cowboy Bob had messed his shorts and needed a diaper? Well, that was the case and we made him one only to have it removed shortly after that because Cowboy Bob needed to use the potty. It was all a new and interesting experience brought to me by my 2-1/2 year old.

Now that first trimester is ending, I'm hoping to get back to crafting....my latest goal is to create an amigurumi character. I started this one last fall, it's pattern is from the book Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden. I fell in love with this book the moment I saw it...I just don't know what this little guy/gal wants to be. I think I originally was going to make the amazon warrior, but now I want to do something a little different. I gave it Cowboy Bob's winter scarf because it's still chilly around these parts. Hopefully I'll post more projects soon! We have to see how my energy level is doing.

Bbbrrrrr!!! and New Etsy Items!

It's a whopping 9 degrees outside!! Yikeeess! Good thing todays plan is to stay in a sew some Christmas gifts! Yesterday I completed two dog coats, they're so quick and easy! I'll have pics soon. Today I need to squeeze in two more dogs coats, two pairs of kids pants, some more button pics and hopefully a crocheted amigurumi elephant, a pattern I got from Roman Sock's blog. She has THE CUTEST little animals to crochet on her site! I've already made the elephant for my friends youngest for his first birthday. This time I'm making the little elephant for another friends two-year-old. The only change I make is that I sew on black yarn eyes instead of adding the black plastic ones, just for saftey sake. :)

New vintage buttons have been listed in our Etsy shop! This time I added clear crystaly ones and red/green/white ones that reminded me of ice and snow and Christmas! I haven't crafted anything for our Etsy shop yet, I have ideas swarming a plenty...but right now I'm focusing my crafting on gift making. Which is a bummer, because right now is probably the time to list items for people to buy for Christmas. I'll rely on my mom and aunt to add the crafty items. Maybe when I finally put those ideas into production, I'll start up my own Etsy shop with them in it. I don't know....I'm so torn between so many ideas and really, I should be listing things that all tie in together, creating a "niche" like the Etsy Seller Handbook recommends. What to do...what to do...