Crochet and a PB&J

I'm a poet and I don't know it...

I put the ripple aside a little bit yesterday to try my hand at something else...

The photo belies the size of this - it's only about 1.5" in diameter. The instructions (from Interweave Knits magazine) were really horrible, especially for the leaves, so I'm not happy with this at all. I found instructions for leaves online and will try them tonight. Crocheting with 6-strand DMC embroidery thread and a tiny hook is not child's play either...

I'm making slow and steady progress on the Spice Market quilt,


and my inner child took over and forced me to have a PB&J for lunch. I can't remember the last time I had one of those. It was g-r-r-r-e-a-t!

No craft today

Yesterday we took the freeway to Seattle...


stuffed our little tummies...

acted like tourists in our own town...

had the BEST gelato...

and saw Cirque Dreams(Little Bit had some trouble here)...


It all went by in a blur...

Decoupage

Just a quick post...

We're off to have lunch and see Cirque Dreams in the city. Stay tuned for a review...

I just wanted to quickly share the result of the fun decoupage project I did yesterday.

I'm so happy with this that I'm now prowling around the house look for other things to transform...

Friday Fun

First, a ripple update. Thank you so much for all your advice. Katie recommended using a stripe generator. It is amazing! I could play with it all day. It makes me want to make another ripple blanket with PLANNED colors, just so I can use the generator.
Anyway, for my "ugly" ripple, I eliminated the most offensive yarn while, I hope, still keeping enough to complete the blanket.
I think it looks OK...


One rainy day in February I strolled into Borders for coffee and browsing, when what to my wandering eyes should appear..."all calenders $1"!!! I picked up a couple of treasures, unsure of what I'd ever use them for. Then I saw this. And I needed a bigger pencil holder. So today, I'm doing decoupage.


After bringing in all my props from outside and putting them on the kitchen table, this little vignette kind of appealed to me as the story of what my day will probably be like...

...and it looks like fun!

P.S. Our quilt group's pink quilt sold for $685 on eBay!!!!

A little extra info: The pink quilt was for a charity auction on eBay benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It was a crazy quilt with a block done by each member of our group.

Ripple dilemma and other stuff

Ripple fever has finally caught up with me. I figured that, since I have all this "old", not very good yarn in my yarn box, rather than donate it or throw it away, I might as well make something useful out of it. I don't think the powers that be actually wanted me to take up rippling though. After trying 3 different free patterns and unpicking all of them, I finally found this one. It's easy and simple and quick and many ripplers seem to be using it.

Pretty, right?
Now for the big dilemma...
The idea was to use up the leftover yarn in the box - NOT buy new yarn. Of course, I instictively chose to start with colors that go together. And it looks rather nice. So how can I now bring myself to add this to my beautiful afghan?

Ponder, ponder, ponder...

On a less confused note...
I finished the Tiramisu blanket.


And at a friend's house yesterday I was blown away by all the loveliness.


(The garden photos were taken using "Little Bit" and she's clearly not as talented as "Big Black", but she fits in my purse.)

My First Quilt

Today I have to catch up with the "real" world a little and run errands, pay the bills, etc....

I therefore bring you the first quilt I ever made. It was back in 1999 and I was very into "country". It's old and faded now, but still has a special little place in my heart and my home in a quiet little corner of the living room.

WIP Day

Today I'm working on my WIP's. I have a ton of new things I want to start, including making a ripple blanket (yes, I've caught the fever), but these have to be completed first...

Alicia's Tiramisu blanket in pistachio green:


Spice Market Quilt:


I have been greatly inspired by Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel and all the other Earth Day inspired television coverage on ways to save our planet. I've been assessing the ways my family contributes and am trying to implement some simple ways to help save this earth for our children and grandchildren. OK, enough serious preaching...

If you'd like to find some easy ways to make our earth a better place, visit www.earth911.org. They have tons of great ideas.

Bowl Addiction

OK, OK, I know Easter is long gone, but...
...it's never too early to prepare for next year, is it?
We were at Uwajimaya, an Asian supermarket well known to all in the Northwest, buying ingredients for Gavin's wonderful red curry (one day I'll get the recipe out of his brain...), and I saw these.
I have to confess something here: I have a slight (OK, maybe not so slight) bowl addiction. I can not pass up a cute bowl. And these were VERY cute, so I had to have them.

While I'm on the subject...



I LOVE bowls!

Earth Day 2007

In honor of Earth Day I bring you the smallest tree in my garden. I rescued this little Japanese Maple seedling from certain death about two years ago, along with five others. It's only about six inches tall. The biggest one has a proud place in the garden and is growing into a wonderful tree. This little one needs a little more container time.

Behold, carpet!

Workroom spring cleaning is done! Well, except for two bookshelves, but that'll be a breeze.
And what did I find?

Yes, that's actual carpet!
This is the same spot that yesterday morning looked like this:


There were also some closet changes.
Before:

After:

and the doors close!


Watch out for some SERIOUS crafting on Monday...

Snippets

I'm spring cleaning my workroom/studio (it's probably contagious, since some other people have been doing the same thing), so not much crafting will get done today.

Why is it that everything has to become MORE of a mess before it can become less of a mess?


I do have a WIP - Alicia's Tiramisu Blanket in a wonderful pistachio green. There are no babies in our circle of friends, so it may become a giveaway.


As an ode to the sun finally showing its face, I bring you my personal little sun worshipper who will never suffer the consequences of basking every day...

Knitted Hat - Part III

Finally! A hat a person of normal head-size can wear! Josh is very happy! Viola is even happier that she didn't have to model another embarrasing creation.


After Kim posted another yummy-looking recipe I, of course, had to make it. I'll be the size of a mountain if I keep this up.
Grandma's Banana Bread is in the oven as we speak.

Everybody, meet Stevie

Stevie is the little sister of Steve, from this book by Denyse Schmidt...

...which I got from the library after seeing Amanda's wonderful creations.

Stevie has issues.

According to the instructions, the pattern pieces should be enlarged by 250%. That is too big for the letter size paper on my printer and I was definitely not in the mood to drag myself down to the copy shop. The biggest I could go was 220%. Great!
The arms and legs are cut from rectangular pieces of fabric, the size of which is in the instructions (assuming 250% enlargement of the pattern). Using my superior math skills, I reduced the numbers by "-250%" and then multiplied the result by 2.2 to give me 220%. Or so I thought...

Suffice it to say that Stevie has VERY skinny arms and legs...

...but I love her anyway.

Spice Market progress

I finally cut all the fabric for the Spice Market Quilt yesterday. It felt like sacrilege to cut into those beautiful pieces of fabric, but "no pain, no gain". I can't wait to start sewing!




The tulips in the backyard are at their prime right now. Lovely!

To see more tulip photos, please visit my Flickr "Flowers and Garden" set.

Tomorrow...

(Card-catalog card designed here via Alicia. Thanks!)

Still not crafting, but...

After reading Kim's post about the carrot cake she made, I've been taken over by the "need" for carrot cake. I just HAD to have it, so I made one. Mine was not nearly as pretty as hers...

..but it tasted great!


I received Denyse Schmidt's book "Quilts" from the library yesterday.

This was yet another acquisition triggered by reading too many blogs. This time it was Amanda discovering it and promptly making just about everything in it in a matter of days. I haven't made anything yet, but I will.

I also went shopping with Josh...


plaid shorts: $45


striped t-shirt: $30


black & white belt: $17


a decently dressed teenager: PRICELESS!