purple loveliness

I just wanted to share a little peak at something I'm working on, it's for a contest that I found in a new group I found on ravelry. It needs to be finished by the end of August. Deadlines are good. I don't have any type of urge to just set it aside for a new project. Although, it does have to sit for a week or so, until I have the money to get the yarn needed to finish.

These motifs are so fun to make, I wish I needed to make more of them. The motif I'm using can be found here. The purple I'm using makes me swoon so ridiculously hard, I've had a really hard time photographing it, so the picture does it absolutely no justice. Hopefully, the end result will be easier to capture.

ps: go see Carina's blog, she's the reason I posted today, I'd still be sitting here not sharing anything if I hadn't seen her post today.

yarn art

The idea for this project came from here, just a couple things changed.

I think I mentioned before how much I love this yarn. Now you can really tell I do! I used one of the frames that I used for the silhouettes I made last year. I only had the one left, those dollar store frames don't like to take a lot of falling off the wall.

I decided not to add fabric to the inside of the frame. I think the rough look of it looks really good, maybe it's just me? The hook will eventually get changed out for a bigger, possibly wooden one, if I can ever find one for cheap. The one in there doesn't bother me too badly, it's a plastic 7.5mm that used to belong to my grandma, I kind of like having something in there that can remind me of her.

I'm sharing at:
Today's Creatove Blog
Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
Take a Look Tuesday
Everything Etsy

what a disaster!

I left some beginnings of few squares out, along with the scissors and my three year old, who was supposed to be asleep, decided to help out with the crocheting.

Nope, not so much help.

She also took some snips at a rather big skein of yarn, there are ends poking out of it everywhere, I think there will be a lot of yarn lost. It can all go into my new scrap yarn sack, I found a super awesome idea for my little bits of yarn that I can't wait to try out! So, maybe she was helping after all.

P P P S

I tried to add this to the first post but it screwed everything up. Someone else wanted to say thank you. The video is a bit dark, this was in our not so bright basement

random bits

I can't believe it's Sunday already, I'm happy for it. I'm going through hard stuff again, it sucks but I know it will get better. Maybe not soon, but eventually.

I saw Eclipse this week! Thanks to the $50 gift card I found while cleaning up this darn place before we moved in. Thank you people who lived here before us... the cops are looking for you by the way. Anyway, the movie was really good. I'm glad that I read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner before I saw it too, it's not 100% relevant to the movie but if you've read it, some things make a little more sense.

One last thing,  I have finally got myself set up over at pinterest. You can find me pinning right here. It's a really fun place, I could spend a huge chunk of my time playing with it. You have to get invited to make an account, I just went through the site, so I had to wait a few days. But, I have 5 invites that I can send out if anyone wants one. Leave me your email address if you'd like one!

ps. Thank you for all the wonderful comments you all have been leaving me lately! I try to reply to everyone but not everyone has their email attached to their comments. But, still thank you to all of you.

pps. Welcome to all the new followers! The number has jumped pretty high in the last couple weeks. Thank you for choosing to follow me, I hope I won't bore you too much.

baby gifts

My niece Olivia that I shared about a while ago got to go home from the NICU last Monday. Yesterday was the first time I went to see her and hold her. I was a bit sick so I couldn't see her earlier. She's such a tiny thing, I've never held a baby so small (5lbs 110z now, she's gaining fast!), in the NICU she was always asleep when I saw her. The closest I got to interacting with her while awake was when I held down her legs so her mom could get her diaper on.

Of course, I didn't want to go without taking something with me, so I made a little baby present.  I got some Gerber onesies and embellished one with her name and the other I sewed a rossette on. Pattern for the rossette is here.




This rosette makes me so happy! I'm going to make more, they are so easy.




I also made these cute little booties. They seemed so tiny, I was sure they would never fit her but they actually an inch too big! The ones made with variegated yarn are my favorite! I'm not so sure I like the pink and yellow ones, but Olivia's mom seems too, though she could just be too nice to say otherwise.




This girl is going to get so many crochet goodness from me! Baby stuff is the most fun to make. The bow blanket I was so excited about a few months ago I gave to her when she was born. I still love that blanket, I need to make more but all the other baby stuff is preoccupying me.






Sharing at:
Craftatical
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Everything Etsy
Today's Creatove Blog

quick question/opinons needed/survey/whatever...

plusthree

plus3

+3

+three

Which looks better to you? It kept me up last night, I just could not figure out which looked better. Leave me a comment letting me know what you think!

Thank you!

finally a pillow

Being determined to finish a WIP this weekend payed off, I finished the same day I posted about it. I don't know why I let it sit unfinished so long, once I really got started, it only took me a few hours.

I made this pillow from a pattern called Petal Pillows in Crochet Today. The pattern was very easy to work up and I am definitely going to make at least 2 more soon. The pattern said to do one side in all one color but I decided to make both the same, that way I won't ever end up caring which side is facing out when it's on the couch (I get like that sometimes).

I didn't have a pillow form on hand and I really wanted to get this finished, so I just stuffed it with batting and stuffing. Plus, round pillow forms apparently are a little hard to find around here, I may have to start sewing up some of my own, there's quite a few round pillows I want to make! I love this pillow, it's so squishy and soft. My girls love it too and are already begging me for their own.

Just the first of hopefully many pillows for my couch! I want that thing overflowing with them!

I'm linking this up here:
Get Your Craft On!
Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
Take a Look Tuesday

doilies

While on our spontaneous trip, I noticed a little thrift store in the town we were staying in, so one morning I walked down to it with one of the kiddos.  I've only been to one of those smaller thrift stores before and that was before I actually wanted to find stuff in them. Around here is mostly big stores with not too much to offer.

Just walking in excited me! I hoped to find something milk glass but there wasn't anything, people there probably already know how awesome that stuff is.  While the kiddo pulled out the toys in one corner, I spotted a few shelves stuffed with pillowcases, fabric, etc. I dove right in and found a basket filled with doilies! A lot of them were the same, so I only walked out with a few.

I can't wait to get started on what I have planned for these! I put one of the doilies into a metal hoop that I came across during my digging, it had no price and the woman didn't know what it was so she just let me take it for free with all the doilies. She hates doilies and was happy to get rid of a bunch, it was a much cheaper trip than I anticipated. 

The doily hunting made me hungry to do more, it's addicting to dig through them all. Just that one store took up 2 hours, if I had more free time, I'd be searching out more little thrift shops.

some pretty on a Sunday

1. Untitled, 2. DIY Pouf!, 3. When-in-doubt-add-a-flower lamp, 4. Tea-Dyed Thread Crochet Doily in Rich Beige, 5. working on this week, 6. knitting, 7. an apple a day, 8. Kitchen Rug, 9. zigzag, 10. Mary, 11. Summer blooms pillow cover WIP, 12. Doily Dance, 13. floral dishcloths 2, 14. musculosa tuneada, 15. Large Calendar Detail, 16. plastic doilies

WIP determination

I have many WIP's laying around, this one I am determined to finish off this weekend.

Vampire Academy

Well, I am officially hooked on yet another series! My sister in law is big time into the vampire books and she let me borrow this series from her. She thought it would be something I would like and boy, was she right!

So far, I've read the first two books, Vampire Academy and Frost Bite.  I honestly don't even know how to explain the books, it's obviously about vampires, both living and dead ones and it's also about the one's who guard the living vampires. You can read what good reads has to say about both these books here and here.

These are such great books! I've been flying through them, Frost Bite took me about 5 hours to read. Luckily the kids were all in bed asleep, so I had no interruptions. I'm really getting attached to a lot of the characters, I even bawled towards the end of the Frost Bite, though that could have been the sleepiness, it was 1am.

If you're looking for something new to read, pick this series up! I saw in stores that you can get the first three in a box set.

pot holders

June was my month to receive in the pot holder swap I'm a part of. Every time I opened my mailbox and there was a package in there, it was like Christmas, I loved it! I got some really great pot holders, they are all being put to use already.

I can't wait to show off the two I've made for the next members, they were both patterns I'd been dying to use and I love the way they both turned out.

new key chain

I whipped this little pretty up last night. I used a pattern called Ranunculus from my new book, Crochet Adorned. I love the button that I put in the middle, I've been saving it for quite a long time, I'm glad I finally found something to use it on.

I used these exact colors in another project that I can't wait to show you, I'm seriously giddy over it, it turned out so perfectly! The project is for a swap, so I don't want to ruin any surprises but I hope to share soon. The colors made me so happy, I had to do something else with what I had left. Thus, this key chain was born.





I lose my keys constantly around the house but with this pretty flower attached, I think they're going to be easier to find from now on.

alphabet walk blog hop

I'm really excited that I managed to sign up for the alphabet walk blog hop at one sydney road on time.

My letter for the blog hop was 'D' and here's what I came up with:

driftwood

dirt road

dandelion

dandelion

DAWGS, I suppose these are the Canadian Crocs

I took all these photos around where I grew up, I miss the non paved-ness of it. Nature didn't cooperate well with me, so there are far fewer photos than I had hoped to get.

Click over here to see all the participates in the walk, today's letters are a-e. The walk is continuing all week long, so be sure to visit everyone for some great photos.

my birthday

My birthday was last week, I completely forgot it was even my birthday! We had been driving a really long time already and still had lots to do that day anyway. I still ended up having a good time the next day at the Waterfront Festival, it's so pretty in Ontario.

Here my sister made me some really great cupcakes!

 She got me a fab present, I've been wanting the book for so long.

I think I want to do every project in it but especially the pretty petals tank (biggest reason I wanted this book!):

As soon as I can get more yarn added to my stash, I'll be diving right into this book.

granny stripes

Finally I have a picture to show of the new blanket I'm working on! I took this with me on our trip as well, I usually get motion sickness really bad but I had pretty much no problem crocheting while driving. I'm excited about that, now I have something to do on long trips other than sleep!

It's a baby blanket, either for my friend's upcoming baby or another girl who has been wanting a blanket from me for over a year. It depends on what my friend ends up having, she wouldn't find out the sex but she's due really soon! I bought the yarn thinking it was going to be gender neutral but I think it's looking more like a boy blanket.

I'm using the granny stripes pattern from Lucy at Attic24. I love this pattern, it's so easy and fast to do! I think if I ever get around to making a king sized blanket for my bed, I might go with this pattern.

took awhile

Last year around the time I made my very first granny square blanket, my sister bought me some yarn to make one for her too. I made lots of the granny squares and then stopped because I really could not stand the way it was turning out. So, last month I finally pulled it all out again and managed to get it finished.

Yes... last month, I'm so slow at sharing these days now!

I'm still no fan of it but my sister loves it and I figure that's what really matters! Plus, I plan on making a better one for her some upcoming Christmas. Especially since she was so super sweet for my birthday this year! I'll share it tomorrow when my camera is alive again.

I disappeared for a bit there! I'll start posting again really soon, I'm recovering from a spontaneous trip we took last week.  It was an exhausting drive but it was fun while we were there, we're even thinking of moving before school starts up again. Should be quite the adventure.

I will share more soon, once the world stops spinning, my legs are still getting used to being out of the car after a two day drive.