just a little peek...

at what I am working on right now...
More pictures soon :)

i heart rainbows

My granny square blanket is finished (well, almost, I still need to weave the ends in on the back, but from the top it looks done so for now I am going to pretend that it is done)!
100 squares, turned into 25 blocks, crocheted together in purple and my favorite part...
the ruffle-y, rainbow-y border!
It only took me 2 years and 3 months to complete. Not too bad considering I made another blanket during that time and could not crochet for almost a whole year b/c my tendinitis was so bad for Addie's first year of life. I also find solace in the fact that my mom started a blanket when she was in my stage of life (a house full of young children) and she just completed it a year or two ago, 40 some years after she started it. By her standards I am doing really good :)

lazy saturday

My parents left early this morning and other than making pancakes and cleaning the kitchen I've done nothing but relax all day. My hubby took the kids to the park while I took a nice nap and now I am crocheting the last 3 blocks onto my blanket...
After that all that's left is a ruffle-y, rainbow-y border (and weaving in the ends, of course)!

vertical

Addie is finally walking more than crawling to get around these days.

Regan took these pictures and I love the perspective on this one, its almost 3d.

I am loving the warmer weather these days and sending the kids out to play for hours at a time. On really good days (like today) we are finished school by 1pm or so and that leaves the bulk of the afternoon for play.

I have finally pulled out my granny square Afghan (that I started FOREVER ago) and really started to work on it. I've just been doing bits and pieces here and there, but I really want to finish it so I can move on to something else guilt free :) Here is my 100 squares, all the ends woven in and ready to be attached.

I am making 25, 4 square blocks (I think I've got about 9 to go) and then I will put one or two rows around each block before I attach them all together. I am not sure what color(s) I will use next. I am thinking purple, but I am not sure yet.
This is where I got the pattern for the granny squares, but mine will be a bit different than Lucy's I think.

Hope your week is a sunshiny as mine!

sweet dreams

I have been admiring Rose Hip's crochet trimmed pillowcases for months now, wishing I knew how to do it myself, but not having the energy or focus to figure it out on my own. And then I stumbled upon this! Then, while we were in MD, my mom and I snuck off to Home Goods where I found these polka dot pillowcases (a perfect match for the quilt I am working on)!
I can't remember what night I started this (maybe Wednesday?), but it was pretty simple- this week has been crazy between unpacking, being sick, getting back into the swing of life at home, remodeling my kitchen :) etc. So, needless to say, I have not had a lot of time to craft but I did find enough time to finish up one pillowcase.

Oh, and look at the fabulous slipper that Regan made! Seems we both are good at getting half of a pair done, the questions is, can we finish what we've started?

more show and tell

I made this scarf for my mom for her birthday- the picture is a bit blurry (that's what happens when you try and take photos of yourself in the mirror with no flash and bad lighting) anyway- you get the idea. I had to get some help with the centers of the flowers, my pregnant brain just could not get it, but otherwise it was an easy scarf and fun to make- got the pattern here.

We've finished all the things I wanted to accomplish before the baby arrives so now I am having fun working on craft projects that got set aside during all that Christmas crafting while we wait. Two day's til my due date- I am ready, but not anxious or impatient- in a pretty good place I think for being (almost) 40 weeks pregnant!

show and tell

I know I have been MIA for the past week, but it seems like things have been moving at lighting speed the past week and I just have not had any time to blog! No real news on the baby front- I am a few cm dilated, but no real action- par for the course for me at this point :) We have gotten lots done around here since my mom arrived late last week, but I will save that for another post. For now I wanted to do a bit of show and tell... I finally finished Tallulah's blanket that I started in August.
I think you can tell from the pictures how much she likes it, and how much she liked modeling with it. I could not keep her off the blanket while I tried to photograph it- watch the progression of the piggies from the side of the blanket :)

weekend sewing

I saw the tutorial for this little arm-rest pincushion thingy and knew right away it would be the perfect Christmas gift for Miss Mary (the sweet grandma from our church who hosts the crochet group Regan and I attend on Monday nights) who seems to always be sitting in her corner chair knitting, stitching or crocheting something every time we visit. I had fun digging through my scraps in search of selvage edges with printing on them and I was able to piece the who thing together from my scrap drawer.

the back/underside

close up of one of the pockets

the best laid plans

I am really good at making a plan to be organized. I make charts and lists, schedule out every minute of the day making sure that the nothing (will) get neglected. And I can even keep up those great organizational plans... for 1 week. That's it- one week of a clean, organized, well run house and then complete disaster! It is like being organized for that week takes so much energy that not only can I not keep it up into future weeks, but I seriously digress in the second week! We are at the end of that second week right now, I look around me and see nothing but disaster and feel nothing but exhaustion and complete overwhelmment (I just made that word up) at the idea of trying to recover from the chaos! I did not even realize that I have been MIA from my blog since Monday until I clicked on my blog bookmark this afternoon! So, to prove (mostly to myself) that my week has not been completely unfruitful I took a few photo's of some of this weeks projects...

I've been making some take along art book's for a Bazaar at my nephews school.

I just love this vintage Holly Hobby fabric!

Baby blanket fabric washed and pressed, ready to be cut and sewn into some new baby blankets!

A mermaid costume for Regan that she had already told me she does not want to wear for Halloween, why do I bother?

In the final stretch of Tallulah's blanket- This is the flower border that will surround the entire blanket.
Well, looking at all this really makes me want to do some sewing or crocheting, but I stayed up way to late last night folding laundry and watching a recording of SYTYCD and Glee (I think this is the second time I have watched the show all the way through and all I can think when I watch it is that it's HSM for adults). Anyway, the couch is calling me (the couch b/c if I get in bed I will never get up!) Hopefully I can pull myself together this weekend and you will see more of me next week. TTFN!

progress and an unexpected pause

I have been making good progress on my latest crochet project, just hooking right along when ever a I have few minutes to spare. I am enjoying the process of designing as I go and am excited to see the final product. There is only one problem...

I ran out of yarn just 6 inches from the end of my last row (before switching colors) of hot pink!
I've got all the other colors, except more hot pink, so now I am stuck waiting for my yarn order to come! The good news is, I made a list last night and came up with nearly 15 projects that are currently sitting unfinished, so there is no lack of crafting to do around here! Made a new commitment: no new project until I finish the ones I've already started/bought materials for! I think I've made this promise before, unsuccessfully, let's hope this time will be different!

highlights from the weekend

Here are just a few highlights from the weekend celebration. We had beautiful weather and a wonderful time celebrating my parents 50th year of marriage. I think we figured out between us all we had something like 120 years of marriage!

For the first time ever we had a professional photographer come out and take family pictures of us all- I snuck a few pictures while they were setting up of my parents with all their grand kids (minus the one in my belly, of course)- pretty impressive bunch, huh?

Out of 16 grand kids there are only 3 girls! Anyway, you can imagine how much fun we have dressing them up and how much fun they have whenever they get together!

My brother giving the toast- Thanks so much Mom and Dad for setting such a great example for us all! (BTW, that is apple juice in the kids glasses.)

My dad was a bit nicer this time around with the cake :)

and finally, how I spent 10 of my 12 hours in the car this weekend!

just popping in...

to post some pictures of my finished basket. I like how it turned out, it definitely needs to be filled so that you can really enjoy it's full effect, ha, no pun intended! Well, I am off to clean up the house and rest for a bit, the past two weeks have been busier than I would like, for summer break! Hope you are enjoying some sunshine wherever you are!

today I am loving...

the "rare for late June" weather in the 80's that makes for great time with friends in the back yard.

my tree's and the shade they provide.

playing hide and seek...
and freeze dance on the deck.

hearing the children play and laugh while I sit on the deck and work on my basket.
What are you loving today?

on the hook

Poor Max is still pretty sick, so I was looking for something to do that was both easily interruptable and relatively small/portable to work on while sitting with my sick boy. This is what I found. The pattern seems pretty easy to follow and I just happened to have a few extra skeins of matching yarn laying around that did not work for another project (ordered them online to match something I was already using and they ended up being the wrong color). There have been many interruptions, so I have not gotten too far, but it is coming along nicely and, maybe, in a few days I will have a pretty crocheted basket! More pictures when I'm all done :)