Monday, November 28, 2011

Crocheting For Baby

Giving you a peek at what I found....


this is what has been keeping me up till the wee hours 
of the morning.


These 2 critters have kept me hopping.

 
Because I used the movable eyes instead of stitching them, these 
frogs are not appropriate for infant/toddler to play with,
but will be used in another way. I sewed the eyes on and
will add some dabs of glue behind them to secure them better. If you gave them to a small child I would suggest stitching the eyes on. Another concern would be a small child sucking the frog's arm or leg into their airway, so close supervision is a must. This toy would be more appropriate for a school age child.


Looks like they hopped right up there for another pic, goofing off with some silly froggy antics.


Anyone interested can find this FREE pattern HAPPY FROG 
on Ravelry. It is fairly easy to follow.


It takes only a couple of hours or so to make.
Look for the pattern by Susielah Rahmad on Ravelry.


I think they are the sweetest little guys.
There will be more to come.
Wait till you see what I plan to do with them.
♥♥♥

Friday, November 25, 2011

Some Projects From 2011

Hope all of you had a good holiday with family and friends. We had a nice Thanksgiving with our daughters and our son-in-law. The meal was good....the best part about it was that I didn't have to cook, lol, (my contribution was deviled eggs and  some cream cheese and beef stuffed celery). When we got home I got busy on my present crochet project. I would love to show you all what I have been working on, but my oldest daughter reads my blog and I can't post about it cause then the surprise is ruined. After I show her then I will come clean and post a few pics. In the meantime here are things I have done this past year that I have been meaning to show you......


I was rummaging around and found things I made 
this last winter. 


I had them tucked away in a tote. 
The scarfs were made for the glitz and glam of the holidays.


I guess after I made them I wasn't so sure anyone would like them, I mean, come on, if you wore one would you feel like a Christmas tree with some tinsel draped around your neck? 
  

The little crocheted cell phone purses were just a whim and I'm not even sure they are finished yet cause
they seem to need some sort of embellishment and a fastener type closure. I'm still mulling this over, what to do, what to do.....

 
The baby blanket I made more recently for the new baby.
It is made from fingering yarn and done in a shell stitch.
I made it about the size of a receiving blanket. I kinda wish I would have made it a bit bigger, but it will do.




Now in my haste I used my old antique bear on the guest bed as a prop. There is a lot to learn about taking good photos. One is definitely finding the best vantage point to show off the thing you want to share. This wasn't a good spot. The lighting is poor of course because as usual another gloomy day in Ohio. The spot on the bed is way too busy with the quilt. I turned all the lights on and even with the flash the pics weren't what I hoped for. 

Anyways, I am posting the pics. I am still playing around with the camera, but still loving it.
♥♥♥

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Dishrags


As promised a quick batch of pics to update everyone on what I have been doing these past several weeks.
After I did the second AF Blanket I got busy and crocheted up the shawl for Mary and the striped scarf. 
In between the last 2 projects I was knitting up dishrags.
I used Bernat Cotton. I found huge skeins on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics for around $5 plus tax. 
I bought 3 skeins and started in with knitting needles. The one pattern is an old reliable one that most knitters know where you
cast on 4 stitches, knit the first row and then increase 1 stitch each row in til you have 43 stitches on the needle. After that you decrease by knitting 2 together each row. This pattern is one
published by Lily Cotton Yarns and you should be able to find it on their website. There are tons of patterns available for free all over the web. My other pattern is just a K1, P1 pattern throughout. You decide how wide and how long you want your dishrag to be. You will cast on an odd number of stitches so that every row will start and end with a knit stitch.

 









I'm trying to decide if I should sell them or just give them away for gifts. I have to make 3 more green ones for my daughter for Christmas presents. Only time will tell what I do with the rest of the batch.
♥♥♥

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Goodbye to Fall, Vincent and a Giveaway

  Good morning friends. Before I start in on what is new, let me tell you all about a friend Jeanie from Rhode Island and her GIVEAWAY found hereHer blog Getting Started is filled with all sorts of interesting things including yummy recipes, crochet, quilting and tutorials. She has lots of pretty photos. Hop on over and check her out and say "Hi". She welcomes all friends and new followers.  

We are getting closer to Thanksgiving, but before we move ahead to all those turkey dinners and shopping days, let me pull you back a bit in time and share with you one of the cutest pictures taken at Halloween. Yes, I just had to show you a picture of Vincent, the son of my daughter Meghan's best friend Mary. This pic caused quite a stir among her friends when she posted it on Facebook. (She gave me permission to post it here). I wanted to share it because he is so darn cute in his business man get-up. She took him to work one day and he told her he wanted to be an office worker when he grew up. Personally I think he looks like a young Drew Carey. If you would have watched the Price is Right during Halloween time, Drew had his hair slicked back and a mustache. Mary said Vincent was really fun that evening, working the people to get them to give him candy. I think he is absolutely adorable, and this pic is priceless!


Notice his briefcase all ready for candy. 

 
 
I wanted to share a few more pics I took of  the sugar maple in my backyard before we roll into winter and cold snowy weather.
I found these on my camera. These are reminders of why I love this tree so much. 
 







As you can see I got these photos before all the green leaves had fallen from the red bud. Then I got to noticing how the red bud has heart-shaped leaves. I had never really paid attention to that characteristic before.



A couple of days later the wind had whipped around and the leaves were on the ground. Both of these trees were bare. Soon it will be time to fill the bird feeder and to shovel snow. The weatherman is predicting a cold and snowy Winter. I am so thankful I have my yarn and fabric to get me through the long months of nasty weather. I love to read and bought myself a Kindle when I was shopping a couple days ago. I have plenty of hardbacks on the book shelves in the living room. I will bake some goodies and warm this house with the smell of wonderful things to eat (I will gain a few more pounds).
I will delight in family and blogger friends and consider myself lucky to be welcomed into your lives and relish the peeks into your homes seeing what is new with you.
I will thank God for every day that I am still on the up-side of this earth, and that I can share each day with those people who are precious to me. I will love my dogs, and hope I can be as wonderful as they think I am. Feeling blessed is without effort.
♥♥♥

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Biscuits, Gravy and Recent Projects

  This was one of those mornings when we woke up so hungry that our stomachs were gnawing on our backbones. 


Up out of bed and straight to the kitchen.
Coffee is on, can ya smell it?


 Out of the fridge comes all the things I need to make a hearty stick to your ribs, arteries, (hips and butt) Southern breakfast of biscuits and gravy.


Now the first thing ya do is heat up the oven to what ever that can of biscuits says, lol. I know, you are thinking homemade biscuits, and yes, I am cheating cause I don't have flour on my nose and all over the counter top. What? Do I hear ya mumbling that you know I have a biscuit cutter cause you saw it a few postings back with all my cookie cutters. Oh, just hush and put those biscuits into that preheated oven. When you throw a spoonful of gravy over them you won't even know they were store bought and came out of a can, lol.
Now on medium heat fry up the bacon nice and crispy. 


 Yummy, who doesn't like bacon? I keep it warm on a plate/dish complete with paper towel to absorb any stray grease, covered with a pot lid while I make the gravy. The next 4 photos show you what you will be doing with the milk and flour. (Instructions below pics).

Milk, about 2 and 1/2 to 3 cups.

Regular flour about 3 heaping Tablespoons.

Add flour to hot bacon grease. Stir until well blended, and be sure to scrape at the bottom of the skillet to get as much of the cooked on meat into the browning flour.
 
The flour should look like this when it is ready to have milk added.

Now save up that bacon grease in the skillet, about 3-4 tablespoons. Stir into the grease about 3 heaping tablespoons of regular flour and mix it up well. What you want to do is to brown it up nicely. Then add about 2 and 1/2 to 3 cups of milk and stir, making sure the browned flour is well incorporated into that milk. Stir until thickened, about the consistency of a thin, but not real thick pudding.

Thickening and starting to bubble. Continue stirring.

When it is done it will be thicker and clings a bit to the spoon.

Yummy gravy.
 Fry up the eggs.


The biscuits should be about done now, a nice golden brown.


Add some jelly or apple butter and there you have it.....



a good ole Southern breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, gravy and biscuits. So much better than Bob Evans. Enjoy!


Our youngest daughter showed up in her pajamas for breakfast. After we ate I had her model the shawl she asked me to make her friend Mary for Christmas. I made the scarf as an added bonus because Mary had picked out that Lion Brand Homespun yarn and wanted me to use it for the shawl.....NO WAY! 


This shawl pattern was a "FREE Take One" from Caron Simply Soft Yarn. It was found at Joanne Fabrics on one of those tear off pads in the yarn section. The sheet has another free pattern For-the-Cure Shawl on the back, but to get the pattern for this Friendship Shawl you have to go to here .


 The pattern for the shawl was crocheted  in Caron Soft and the only thing that Homespun is fit for is knitting. Have you ever tried to crochet with it, it is terrible. (I give that yarn 2 thumbs down!) So, I also knitted Mary a scarf  out of the Homespun. It wasn't anything fancy, but I just wanted to use up the yarn. Hope she likes it.



I haven't posted much lately on what I have been working on with hooks and needles, but believe me, I have been busy, crocheting the shawl, knitting the scarf, and a ton of knitted dish rags. The dish rags I like to do because it is a portable project and we have been on the go a lot here lately. (I will post pics of the dishrags later. Blogger has not been cooperating very well and downloading the photos for this post was taking forever).
I want to knit up all the cotton yarn and then start on some more baby things for my new first grandchild which is due around March 7th. I have been checking out patterns for soft toys and ran across several I plan to make. It will be fun again to dive into my stash of material and re-acquaint myself with all the pretty fabrics.
I will drag out my sewing machine and threads. The baby boy nursery is going to be decorated in turtles and I found a sweet little turtle pattern to make a quilt. I thought it would be fun to use a sage green print to line a wicker clothes basket and fill it with soft homemade baby toys. 
I can't wait to get started and share photos with all of you. 
Until then, may all you lovely friends have a good week and enjoy what you love to do.
♥♥♥
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
~WRITE IT ON YOUR HEART................
THAT THE ONES YOU LOVE ARE LIFE'S MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS~