Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Mice and Men


Well, my intent for this blog wasn't to be sporadic in posting.   However, stuff happens and here we are two weeks later!  So much for well laid plans.

The lack of internet has been the main problem.  AT&T has been out twice in the past two weeks, it took six phone calls for that to happen!

Four dozen little Scotty dog cookies and one German Chocolate Birthday cake with 15 candles were consumed in celebration of Greta turning 15.  There was also a flurry of birthday-gift making.   Mairin made Greta the bag shown above from the book "Bags the Modern Classic" by Sue Kim.  The bag turned out wonderful, but I did write a review on Amazon because the discrepancies we found in the book were frustrating.  Mairin read the instructions before she cut any fabric and also consulted me when the instructions were not clear or the picture didn't jive with the written instructions.  She then bought more fabric to make four more bags from this book.  She has gotten the first one done and gifted it.  If you are patient and not a newbie sewist this is a great little book.

Today we were invited to a friends house for a potluck lunch and a flower-crafting session.  We all brought various fixings for tacos and our host provided all the crafting materials. This is one of my absolute favorite reasons for homeschooling, pooling resources and sharing our talents.  All the little boys got plenty of fresh air and game time while their older sisters were crafting.  It was funny having 10 teen girls in one room and it was so quiet while they were crafting.
The above picture shows my four favorite flowers out of the nine that came home with us.  The supplies we used were satin, tulle, organza, beads, buttons, brads, hair clips, and pin backs.  The edges of the fabric were carefully melted layer by layer and then each layer was secured together and a pin or hair clip was affixed to the back. Viola!!  A great way to use leftover scraps of synthetic fabric.

I am making good progress on the baby blanket, it is about 2/3 finished.  I will share a picture in my next post as well as a picture of a scarf I recently finished.  Ciao

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

It's a vest because it has no sleeves.

"What's the difference between an orange?"  "It's a vest, because it has no sleeves."  This was the first "joke" my husband told me when I first met him.  I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.  He thought it was hysterical.  So when I finished this  vest last night and asked him what he thought, he started with the joke and then told me he wasn't really fond of vests.  
This was a really quick project, maybe 10 hours total.  I used Lion Brand Wool Ease, an H hook and a stitch pattern from one of my crochet books (I can't find the exact book at the moment).  I whip stitched the front pieces to the back and edged the entire vest in double crochet.                                                           


Next up on the hook is a basketweave baby blanket made from superwash merino wool that I purchased from WEBS.  It is so soft and has a lofty feel to it.  A friend is due any day now, this needs to get done ASAP.  I still don't have any edging ideas.