Baker's Dozen: May 2010

This is the 12X12 square I made for Anissa, the May member of the month for another swap I'm involved in on ravelry. I really love how this turned out! It's a pattern called Sun Daze and it can be found on ravelry here.

Starting off the swap with a square that I ended up really loving has definitely gotten me really excited for the rest of the upcoming months! It's going to be fun to try out different patterns.

pattern tested

I've been following the SmoothFox blog for some time now.  Donna creates some really fun crochet patterns and she's always looking for testers to test them out.  I'm always finding the posts too late so I usually miss out on the fun.  But, just a couple weeks ago, I got my name in on time!

The pattern that I tested is called Scrapity Scrap - Don't Talk Back, it's a 12X12 block. This is what my block turned out like.

Other photos of the squares created by other ladies can be found here. I made this for another Baker's Dozen swap I'm involved in on Ravelry. I have another square I made for that swap last month that I'll share tomorrow.

diapers contained

Diapers were invading every inch of my purse, so I needed something to contain them. I whipped up this super simple diaper case. I didn't use a pattern, I just crocheted a rectangle and sewed the sides together to make a little pouch. Then I added a blue ruffle trim to finish it off. Blue because the diapers are for the boy and ruffles because... I just love ruffles.

I love pulling this out to get diapers, it makes me happy every time. I don't even mind changing the diaper, even though the boy hates diaper changes away from home.

Darkest Powers Trilogy

Maybe you noticed... maybe you didn't, I read these fast. My sister told me about these books some time ago and I finally decided to grab them from her last week. This morning I finished the last book of the trilogy.


The books are The Summoning, The Awakening, and The Reckoning written by Kelley Armstrong. My sister was right, they were such great books! Not exactly what I was expecting after I read a couple reviews, I expected vampires the way people put the writer down about trying to be like Stephanie Meyer. There's no vampires in these.

The main character is Chloe Saunders, she sees a ghost and gets put into a group home for troubled teens. When she finally learns the truth about who and what she really is, the adventures begin. She escapes with a few other teens who also have their own unique abilities. The group that had them wants the back, bad, so there is a lot of running away and getting caught throughout each book. You would think it would get tiring to read about it all but it was all written really well, I literally could not put the books down. The last one took me about 5 hours to get through.

Reading these really took me back to the type of books I used to read as a kid, after the first few chapters all I kept thinking was how much it reminded me of the R.L. Stine books I read. I don't know how I managed to read about the ghosts and killer cheerleaders at age 11 without having nightmares. But, I guess now I know why I didn't get scared reading some of the parts that my sister told me really scared her, I desensitized myself early. I wonder if R.L. Stine writes for adults? I'm thinking I want to give that type of book a chance again but I think buying the Fear Street books would look a little weird for me now.

we have a winner

Winner of the hat pincushion giveaway is...

 
Sandy a la Mode said...

awwww this is soo cute and i could totally use a pin cushion! you are such a talented lady to have made this, i LOVE the green color! thanks for the chance to win and thanks for visiting my blog and entering my giveaway, dear! xo, sandy

Congrats Sandy! I will be sending you an email shortly. Thank you to everyone who entered to win.

I have so many things I need to start sharing here. I will make sure to share it all next week, major catching up to do.

Things have been crazy and busy around these parts. Hubby is still off working, he did come home Thursday but only for the day, he was gone again yesterday morning. He might be back for another day at the end of the month for my birthday.

The children have all been acting out in their own strange ways since their dad has gone back to work, I didn't realize how it would really hit them again with him being gone all the time. Zachery has been throwing the biggest tantrums ever, hardly anything slows him down. I know that it's also the terrible two's kicking in... oh joy. Lizzy hasn't been too bad, she's started ordering people around though and she thinks that whenever I get upset with her that I hate her. Breaks my heart, I explain to her constantly that I love her no matter how stressed out she makes me.  Sami's acting out came in the form of stealing. Yes, my little girl stole from her teacher's desk. The next day, we took the stolen property back and she apologized, now she comes home every day letting me know she didn't steal anything. hehe. I guess she learned her lesson!

Yesterday, I got a brand new niece! She was born early and spent a few hours with a breathing tube to help her gain some strength. I went to visit her when she was 7 hours old and she already had that one out, she just had the tube over her nose (taped down because she kept ripping it out!) Today, she's off all assisted breathing. She just needs to start feeding on her own and gaining weight so she can get home. When you look at her you wouldn't even think she needed to be in the NICU, she looks so good, she's the biggest baby in there.

She really did not like all the stuff attached to her, she made this face a lot of the time I was there.

hat pincushion & giveaway

I found this great blog awhile ago called Made to Treasure. When I found it Nima was giving away a free pattern for a hat pincushion and I jumped right at the chance to get one. Here's what my pincushion ended up looking like. Reminds me of spring, the sunny part of it (which we haven't seen too much of here yet).

The pattern was super easy to follow, I was amazed at how quickly I was able to put this together. 

I'm planning on making another one of these (or two), so I've decided to give this one away. Just leave me a comment telling me what the weather is like where you are. Anyone, anywhere can enter to win. I'll pick a winner next Monday.

p.s. this is linked over at V and Co's link me up party!

hello mr. turtle

I'm really into Ravelry now, I've joined a couple year round swaps that have recently started. One of them is for pot holders. The May member of the month wanted her pot holders to be kitschy themed. I figured she'd probably already get a chicken one so I decided to look for another type of animal. I decided on a turtle.

I found a pattern for a turtle hot pad but had a hell of a time trying to get the pattern to work out. I gave that up and decided to figure it out myself. I found a pattern for a flower pot holder and decided to use the center because it could look like a turtle shell. Took me awhile to get the perfect turtle look but eventually it all worked out.

I made two of these, one for the swap and one for my mom for Mother's Day.

blog makeover giveaway

Free blog makeover giveaway, I definitely need this! I have my fingers crossed. Click the button above to go enter, giveaway will be ending soon so hurry!

a meme

I got tagged by a friend to do a meme. I haven't done one in quite awhile but because I love her, I'll do it for her. Plus, I have nothing better to do at the moment and I haven't put a post up in awhile.

We're All a Little Colorific

Angry Red

1. Are you currently mad at someone?
Yes, at the moment, I actually am. Stressed like crazy for no good reason.

2. Which of your family members has the worst temper?
Hubby for sure.

3. Have you ever thrown something at anyone?
Yes, a few times.

4. Is anyone mad at you?
I don't think I've given anyone reason to be, so I don't think so.

5. Are you usually mad?
Sadly, yes.

6. When you're mad do you prefer to stare angrily or yell?
Yell

Exciting Orange

1. Has anyone ever thrown a surprise party for you?
Once somebody tried to throw me a surprise baby shower but no one knew it was supposed to be a surprise, so everyone told me about it.

2. What event is coming up that you're most excited about?
Eclipse coming out! It comes out the day after my birthday, so that's my present this year!

3. If you won a million dollars, what would be your first thought?
I would buy myself a house and a brand new vehicle

4. If you could have anything right now what would it be?
some peace and quiet

Yellow Belly Self

1. Name: Casey

2. Birthday: June 29th

3. What's your main goal in life?
To make myself better and be the best mom I can be.

4. Do you want to have children?
I have three already, no more for me but I would love for more nieces or nephews (ones that I can actually see and bond with)

5. When do you want to die?
When I'm old and gray, after I've had tons of grandkids.

Opinionated Green

1. Are you against gay marriage?
No, I think that everyone should have the right to show how much they love each other if that's how they want to do it.

2. Lower the drinking age?
No, I think they should actually raise it here to 21 like the States.

3. Capital Punishment?
Yes.

4. Abortion?
I don't have strong opinions on it, it's something I would never consider for myself but I've known people who have had them and I don't judge.

Lovely Blue

1. Do you love someone?
Yes, a few people.

2. Do you believe in love at first sight?
No.

3. Do you believe in love?
Yes

Purple Query

Q: How many glasses of water did you have today?
A:Three so far, I'm drinking nothing but water lately!

Q: What color are your socks?
A: White

Q: Name one thing that you do everyday?
A:Cook

Q: How much cash do you have on you right now?
A: not a lot, and won't have a lot for quite some time, too many things going bad right now.

Q: Are you for or against Hillary?
A: I actually don't pay attention to the US politics too much.

Q: Look to your left. What's there?
A:Stairs going upstairs

Q: What's the last piece of clothing you borrowed?
A: A t-shirt from my sister when we were out and I noticed I had poop on the one I was wearing.

Q: What website(s) do you visit the most?
A: Facebook and Ravelry

Q: Do you have plants in your room?
A: No

Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now?
A:Yes, both my baby toes, it's gross and I don't want to explain.

Q: Do you own a picture phone?
A: Yes

Last but not Least, Pink

1. Person you saw:Samantha

2. Person you sent a text message to: Hubby

3. Movie watched in cinema:the new Shrek movie, we got to go for free!

4. Song you listened to: Sweet Caroline from Glee

5. Person you talked on the phone with: Hubby

6. What are you doing right now?
Filling this out

7. What are you doing tonight?
Going to try and finish my sister's blanket

8. What are you going to eat?
maybe spaghetti