Monday, July 28, 2014

More of the Scrappy Project



 Hello my friends. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to stop by and visit me. The door is always open 24/7 and you are all welcome anytime. I have posted pictures today of my progress. Contrary to what I thought, things are shaping up quite nicely and I've just about reached the end of the road on this one.


Actually there isn't a lot to show except different pictures of the same thing with slightly different shots.


I guess I could have turned it sideways to give you a different angle, but I think you are all smart enough to envision that in your heads, lol.


 There was no doubt in my mind as to what I was going to do for a border. This one was basically 3 rows of simple, simple, and more simple.


 It was simple, but turned out to be time-consuming because of the increases which seemed to take forever. You know how you feel when you would like to see an end to a project, even though you have enjoyed doing it. My fault is that I am always trying to keep the next project at bay while telling myself to "please finish this one".


It did actually turned out better than I thought it would. There was a few times I thought about scrapping this scrappy thing and just labeling it a failure.


The back was a puzzle, should I crochet a back, make a fabric backing? I did a single crochet piece and then had to rip it apart and remove about 3 chains because it was turning out too wide. Still, even with doing that I wasn't sure it would fit. I am a tight crocheter, I would pin it in place and ease it in, then whip stitch back to front, leaving an opening on the bottom.


I am still not sure how I plan to do the closure. I want to be able to remove the pillow insert and wash it should it become soiled. Buttons? Velcro? I don't think a zipper would work well, but then maybe velcro wouldn't either since we all know how velcro loves to stick to everything. It would fuzz up the yarn, then what a mess. What do you think? Any suggestions?


This pillow will no doubt just be a decorative item around the house, but famous last words, ya never know who (maybe the grandson) will grab it and lay down a sleepy head. I will do a tutorial if enough folks are interested in making one. It was relatively simple even if it looks crazy and complicated.

Before I end this post I just want to list a pet peeve. Have any of you been getting those automated phone call messages that offer you lower interest rates, offers to discuss your credit rating? Here lately I have been averaging about 1-4 of these calls several times a week. This has been going on for a good 3 months. The phone rings and I am always in the middle of some sort of thing, often my hands are in water and I have to grab a towel to dry off. It doesn't stop there. I come home to their messages being left on my answering machine. Years ago I did do the DO NOT CALL REGISTRY (1-888-382-1222) which blocks these unwanted calls for 5 years. You have to do land lines and cell phone numbers separately to put them on the list. About a week ago I had enough, I did the routine again, listing both of my numbers. I was so sick of dropping everything to answer the phone only to find out it was another of these time wasting calls. They are an intrusion in your life. From what I gather it takes several weeks for the Registry to take effect. Today my phone rang, yep, another of those calls. "Press 1" it said to talk to a representative, and so I did, I pressed 1 and when she came on and asked me if I was responding to discuss my interest rates I told her, "NO, I AM RESPONDING TO YOUR CONSTANTLY LEAVING ME MESSAGES 10 OR MORE TIMES A MONTH! I WANT YOU TO TAKE MY NAME OFF OF YOUR CALLING LIST!" She hung up on me! Good, that was the 3rd call in 2 days. Enough of thinking there is a family emergency and I need to drop everything to answer the phone only to hear a stranger's annoying crap. Most likely they are scammers anyways. If I need to discuss my credit I will call my card companies. Okay, I'm done, I've blown off a bit of steam, I'm feeling better now. Have a good week everyone :)


 


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Scrappy Project Moving Right Along


I'm happy to say that my brain storm scrap project is moving right along despite my crazy and hectic summer schedule. My oldest will be enjoying a 2 week vacation from work starting on Thursday and so I will be at home catching up on things around here. I definitely plan to be working on some fun stuff and plan to get the finishing touches done on my crochet pillow......yes, the plan is to make a pillow from what you see in the pictures.
  

I debated about the size and came to the conclusion that for this first time smaller is better. I want to make the back one solid crocheted piece using the same color as the borders of the rectangles. There will only be 3 hand whipped stitch seams joining the 6 rectangles and believe me, I want to clap my hands for joy on that. It shouldn't take long at all to get that done. I'm hoping to have this all completed by the weekend that is if nothing more important gets in the way. So, until then thanks for stopping by and God bless you all ♥

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Having Fun With This One


Here is another sneak peek of my day dream scrap project.
I try every evening to do some work on it. I want to do a tutorial after it is completed, not because it complicated (it definitely isn't) but because there are some time saving tips.


This is the start of another part to my puzzle.


Just to give you an idea of how small the scraps are, here is a Stirilite plastic shoe container (I love these containers) that I filled with snippets of left over yarns that date back to the creation of dirt. I have put one of my crochet hooks in among the tiny wads of  yarn just to give you an idea of how small they actually are. Each bit of my yarn measures in length about 12 -16 inches long. Anything shorter went into a zip-loc bag to use for tacking quilts or for other simply smart ideas. Anything larger went into the granny square bag. Of course you can use whatever length you want. 
It becomes a personal choice, there are by no means any rules to this project.
 I also want to thank everyone who left a comment on my last post. There was some great ideas for using scraps and one suggestion was to use them to stuff toys and hearts. I liked those clever ideas. I thought of another which was stuffing pin cushions. I love the comments, so no one needs to be shy around my blog. I did try to leave a reply on those comments. I need to be more faithful to do that.


Now for a couple fun family photos of our little guy Holden enjoying himself when he and his parents went camping on July 4th.


I think this picture says it all. He is definitely having fun. He is a precious gift and we all LOVE him.
 Thank you God for happy little smiles to brighten our days and the innocence of a small child to show us just what is important ♥

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Loving Those Scraps, Waste Not, Want Not


Forgive my ramblings.........


Waste not, want not. We have all heard that little saying sometime in our lifetime. It is crystal clear, we all know what it means. I think everyone of us can agree that there is way too much wasted in this day and age, especially by the younger generation who was brought up to think of everything as "disposable". Myself, I was brought up by a mother who grew up in Germany during WWII. Her father died in a concentration camp in Russia. There were 6 of us kids and we were made to clean our plates at meal time, often being reminded that mom, her mother and sister walked down the streets of Berlin while it was ablaze with only the clothes on their backs. They boiled grass to eat. There was no food. Then I married a man whose parents were raised during the Depression. Between the two families I learned about not wasting anything.

 Now to get down to brass tacks. This post today is about my obsession with yarn and the left over scraps. I don't think I have ever thrown a scrap of it away in my lifetime. I am a firm believer that even so much as an inch of yarn can be used for something. The next 2 photos are living proof of this. One day while scrounging around in my craft hoard I came across a large Joanne Fabric bag of left over yarn scraps in various colors and lengths. I discovered another bag, not nearly as full, but a large mess for sure. When I say "mess" I am not exaggerating. It was all a pretty nicely tangled monster wad of yarn scraps long and short.
 

I dumped them all in one big tote bag and tonight I started to try and tame the nightmare. What follows is my start of what promises to be a long process. I am sure some of you would throw the whole tangled blob on the trash and not waste your time fooling with it. But not me. I see value here and let me explain......


The above bunch is ideal for the first and second rounds when making grannies, or other motifs.


This next bunch is smaller amounts, too short for even the center of a granny, but useful for something else I have been dreaming up.


The above pieces are way too short for my recent project, but ideal for hanging Christmas ornaments, or for tacking the layers of a quilt together. They work well on colorful baby quilts if you don't have time to hand or machine quilt. 


These small 1 to 1-1/2 inch pieces are definitely way too short for anything but the birds will love them for building their nests. I will save them in a baggie until next spring. I'll put them in the grape vine ball I hang out for them.


Now remember I mentioned the recent project where I was using the pieces too short for grannies? I started the post with this picture and I am giving you a sneak peek and hope that by my next post I will have something more concrete to share with you. I have laid in bed at night thinking about it, trying to come up with something different. In the meantime my thoughts are jumping all over the place. Yes, you see an African Flower in the upper left of the photo (just experimenting here with the color combo), and yes, there are a bunch of grannies started in the upper right hand. When I get bored I hop from one project to the other. And so I say to you keep the scraps. You never know what you might come up with ♥

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Crochet and Keeping Busy



Hello my dear friends. Once again, sorry for the absence. I remain very busy. I figured I'd better make an appearance or all of you will be wondering what is going on. I have had time to crochet a bit. This is my current WIP. Again I am making a scrappy 3 round granny and using the join-as-you-go method. I am tucking tails with each block. There is no written pattern, just any old granny will do. I could kick myself for making it so long. Now I will have to make it wide enough to make it balanced. As usual I am trying to bust the yarn stash. I am crocheting right now because it isn't demanding and I can relax and watch a bit of tv and the end of my busy days. I would like to finish this project in the next few weeks and then dust off my sewing machine.


During the scrappy granny I got bored. I needed a couple fast, easy and small things to do to break the monotony. I dug around in my baby yarn stash and came up with another simple ripple pattern. The photo looks as though the rows are wider in some places....nope, the wind was blowing and made it look distorted.


I had plenty of that yarn and did this pattern again. It is the same one I used for my mom's blanket. Once again, windy day photo.
 

My tiny garden. I started out with 6 tomato plants and lost 2 during a frost. I had them covered too, but for some reason they took it hard and never recovered. I am pretty pleased with the 4 plants that did make it. My favorite thing out of the garden is tomatoes. Hard to believe that a few years ago we had around 83 plants. I got down on my knees and did some weeding. I still need to get the hoe and get the weeds that were hard to reach.


The biggest tomato. I have been watching it patiently. I have several more scattered about on the plants. I have been catching rain water and using that to water them. I have a new rain barrel but have yet to find the time to get that all set up.


More of my lovely produce. I love the smell of the tomato plant. It is a shame that here in Ohio we only have a short time to harvest them. Hot house tomatoes just don't cut it with me. They are tasteless in comparison.


Okay, it has been awhile since I filled this one bird feeder my hubby made. He used an old license plate for part of it. I go to fill it with bird seed and low and behold it is just about filled with small sticks. I am thinking a small wren has done this and how on earth am I gonna get all that stuff out of there! I don't see any eggs or baby birds. The nest builder had to fly up under the over hang of the roof to get in there with the twigs.


On Saturday a friend came and we set the brush pile on fire. It was pretty good sized and I wanted another person around to help keep an eye on it. Last thing I needed was to catch the meadow behind my property on fire or the row of pines next to the property line. I had the hose handy. I sure didn't want to catch either of my buildings ablaze either. We babysat it together for about 3 hours. I raked up the cones that had fallen under the pine trees and burned them too. My friend left after 3 hours and I puttered around the yard with the weed eater.


Can you see where we filled in the places where my brother removed the ash tree stumps? Boy, was that a job! I am so glad to be done with that. I did plant grass seed on the soil but maybe I should have waited till this fall. I am just so wanting to be done with this for once and for all. It has taken over a year to remove the trees, then grind the stumps, fill over the ground up wood chips cause grass will not grow in that stuff. I took a garden rake and worked the seed in the ground and it has rained a couple of times but still no sprouts. Grrrrr!!!


My cone flowers are in bloom. They are a little worse for wear since I am kinda late in catching them in picture perfect condition. No one would ever guess I love flowers and how years ago I dreamed of having something similar to an English flower garden. My small pittance is sad to look at. At times I think it just a frivolous dream. I have not been able to plant pots on my deck in a couple of years. This year my brother has trapped for me 2 ground hogs, 3 raccoons, and one stray sickly cat. The raccoons climb the fence and tear up my flower pots. I guess I have mentioned that in past posts. 


I happened to be out in the old garden area (where I now have the brush pile) and when I looked down this is what I saw. I think we could all use a little luck. What do you think? ♥
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