Monday, October 31, 2011

baby showers

Over the weekend we had a baby shower for my sister, so that everyone in the family could finally meet her baby. She didn't really want any gifts at the shower but I didn't listen and decided to give her one anyway. I made her this adorable owl!
owl for Bentley

I used this pattern to make him and I enjoyed every minute of stitching this guy up! I'm thinking that the owl might be a good extra to go with the baby blanket I made, since he was so loved at the shower. I made him using the new Bernat Waverly yarn, so he's super soft. The colors I used were brick white, gypsy gold, blue gown and breath of blue.

baby showers

I also made a little decor for the shower, I got the idea from pinterest but instead of paper rain drops, I decided to add some of my crochet touch to them using this pattern. To make the clouds, I used white tissue paper. I enjoy making tissue paper poofs, they're a simple and cheap decoration that look so cute!

sharing at:
Get Your Craft On
The Inspiration Board

Thursday, October 27, 2011

my creative space

girl round ripple

I started my girl baby round ripple blanket and I'm in love with it already! I couldn't find any good colors in the Loops & Threads Impeccable, I guess they're clearing out for more of the wintery colors, so I grabbed some Bernat Waverly, it's new and so, so soft! I have quickly fallen for this yarn, it's most definitely a new favorite! The colors I'm using for this one are fresh flower, mauve glow, aqua frost, butter and brick white.

I'm packing up the groovyghan, I've started to hate the thing. I have no desire to work on it anymore, so it's going away for awhile. So, I have to start a new blanket for my daughter's birthday, I already have an idea of what I'll be doing, hopefully by next week I'll have it started. My daughter has been telling me for a few weeks that she really wants a purple blanket from me, so me stopping the groovyghan isn't so bad, she'll probably be more excited when I give her a big purple blanket instead.

See more ripple-y goodness here and more creative spaces here!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

fabric pumpkins!

fabric pumpkins!

I honestly never really got the appeal of the fabric pumpkins but as soon as I saw these super simple pumpkins, I fell for them and made them that night! Can you guess what's inside there? It's rolls of toilet paper! I love how simple the idea is!

I love them but I'm not sure if my daughter does, she asked what they were in the morning and after I told her she said, "pumpkins are orange, you know that right?". I guess she just doesn't see the appeal of the fabric pumpkins yet!

sharing at:
Get Your Craft On

Monday, October 24, 2011

boy round ripple done!

round ripple

My boy baby round ripple blanket is finished! I'm really happy with how it turned out. It only took me about a week to make it, so I think it's a great go to blanket to make for new babies. I used this pattern to make it. I finished it off with a row of hdc's, so nothing fancy for it, but I don't think it really needs a fancy border.

boy ripple

My cousin and his wife had their baby last week, so this one might be going there, I haven't decided just yet if this is the one I will give them. I need to think of something to go with it too, maybe a stuffed toy? I think I have some time before there's a shower to figure it out though!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

friday favorites

Let's pretend it's Friday! It's been awhile since I've posted any favorites from flickr, I'm finding so much inspiration there again! I still am pinterest crazy but I have been managing to take more time away from it, it doesn't rule me anymore! (haha) Here's a few recent favorites. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

1. 288.365: the thrifted basket, 2. The Crafty Ripple, 3. halloween yarn wreath, 4. hooked and bound hot pads, 5. baby ripple wip, 6. a house for needles


Thursday, October 20, 2011

my creative space

baby round ripple

I stumbled onto this fun ripple-along and decided to join in! I'm planning on doing two round baby ripple blankets, one boy and one girl. I've started with the boy one. I'm using this pattern for the blanket and it's working up very fast.

As usual (pretty much), I'm using Loops & Threads Impeccable solids and a size 5.5 hook. The colors are grass, aqua, heather and clay, I think these colors look pretty good together.

I'm still working on the groovyghan when I can find the time. It's coming along slowly still, but I do have another strip finished and about to be sewn to the rest of the blanket. I should have an update to share soon, I hope. I really do need to get working on it more, there's only 7 weeks until my daughter's birthday!

See more creative spaces here!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

birdy bookmark

bird bookmark

I made this adorable birdy bookmark using this tutorial. It's a super fast and adorable project! I have no clue what type of yarn I used to make it, I bought it last year sometime for another project that ended up never finished, I assume it's Bernat something. I used a size 5 hook, bigger than what is suggested in the pattern, so my birdy is pretty big. I also didn't stuff him since my yarn is so fluffy.

He's super cute and I made him just in time to start a new book. I picked up The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo the other day, I avoided it for awhile but I keep reading how great it is over and over, so I decided to read it. I'm doing pretty good with my reading challenge on goodreads.com, I've read 25 books so far this year, 5 more to go!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

african flower pillow

I finished both sides for this pillow way back in July but then they sat in my basket until this weekend when I finally made an insert and finished the pillow.

done! (finally!)

I am just over the moon excited with how it turned out! I made it as fat as I could, I love a fat pillow! To make the insert, I traced one of the hexagons to figure out the size (leaving about a 1/4 inch seam allowance) and then sewed two of them together. I didn't take pictures of how to do that, I really just roughed it. I joined the two sides of the pillow using a slip stitch.

fat pillow

After posting the WIP, I was directed to the pillow that inspired me to make this, it's right here. Mine is just a little bit different from it.

I didn't write the pattern out while making this one but I'm going to make another one and write it out as I make it. I should have it posted sometime next month, hopefully early in the month!

sharing at:
Get Your Craft On
The Inspiration Board

Monday, October 17, 2011

granny basket

granny basket

I love this color, it's sunny day in Loops & Threads Charisma. I used it and a size 8 hook to make this granny basket for my son's big lego (and spiderman). I used this pattern from Pickles, I did an extra round for the bottom to make it just a little bit wider, it really wasn't necessary though, the basket stretches a lot.

The basket forms so quickly, it only took me close to an hour to finish this and stuff it with lego with help from the boy.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

500 follower giveaway winner!

500 follower giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered to win my 500 follower giveaway! I gained a few more followers since starting the giveaway, welcome to all my new followers!

The winner of the giveaway according to random.org is #35... Kat! Congrats Kat! I will be emailing you shortly, if you don't hear from me though, send me an email!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

tissue box cover

tissue box cover

This was a quick project, I used the pattern from the Royal Sister's blog. I used the same colors as the halloween lovey to make the cover.

My sister says it makes my house seem much more grandma just by having it here, but I like it and I'm going to make another one in winter colors eventually.

Saturday, October 08, 2011

halloween lovey winner

halloween lovey


Time to pick a winner of the halloween lovey doll! According to random.org the winner is... Venus! Congrats! I'll get an email out to you shortly.

Thanks to everyone for entering, there's still time to enter the 500 follower giveaway.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Friday, October 07, 2011

friday favorites

Friday already, the week went by so fast! It's Thanksgiving here this weekend, can't wait for turkey. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians!

There's still some time to enter the halloween lovey giveaway, comments will close tomorrow morning and I'll announce the winner. Also, voting is now open over at Maybe Matilda's for the CAL, head over there and vote for me! (please?) You can see my cowl right here!

For friday favorites, I'm going to share a new to me blog I found just last night. I stayed up way too late browsing this blog, it's called the handmade home, you really have to check out this blog, it's full of amazing ideas and there are some really fun printables there too. Here's a few of the things I pinned from the site, I want each one in my home!









Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Thursday, October 06, 2011

make a hexagon potholder

fall hexagon potholder

I have made a few of these hexagon potholders, I really like them, they look good. I have gotten a few emails asking me how I make them, I've tried to explain it but I'm not sure if I ever get it written out right. So, I decided to take some pictures of the process and hopefully it will make sense. Also, I did not come up with this potholder, I've seen many potholders made like this out there.

First, you need to make 8 of these hexagons, you can use any hexagon pattern you want, that's just the one I use. I just make the centers first and then join them as I go, you could make the hexagons and join with slip stitch, sc, whip stitch, etc, if you wanted to. Next you want to join 4 of the hexagons into a circle.

hexagon potholder how-to
hexagon potholder how-to

After this, you join another hexagon to one of the "corners", the hexagon will fold in half and just fit there.

hexagon potholder how-to
hexagon potholder how-to

And then, you want to do the same on the other side. This one can be a bit trickier to join but it can be done!

hexagon potholder how-to

Do exactly the same for the other end of the potholder. Add a chain 11 to any of the corners for the hanger if you want one.

I hope that wasn't too hard to follow! If there's something written strangely, let me know and I'll try better to explain it.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Time Out Cowl CAL

I finished my Time Out Cowl for the CAL at Maybe Matilda's a couple weeks ago, it was a really fast cowl to make. I started out using just two colors but I decided to add a third, though it's not that easy to tell from the first picture. I used a size 8 hook and Loops & Threads Charisma yarn in charcoal, white and off white. This is probably the softest yarn I have ever used, I love it so much and I have started building up a stash of it so I can use it some more.

I did 35 V-stitch rows in the charcoal, 10 in the white and 15 in the off white. It ended up being 54 inches long, long enough for me to wrap it around twice which is exactly what I wanted.

cowl

When I joined the two ends together, I twisted it first to make it a mobius, I just love those! It looks exactly how I wanted it to look, I love the charcoal behind the whites when I wear it. Not that I'm wearing it just yet, it's still pretty warm most days here but I can't wait for winter to finally hit and I can start wearing this!

time out cowl

My sister is the one modeling the cowl for me, super nice of her since she was very pregnant when she did it!

Go check out the other awesome cowls made for the CAL at Maybe Matilda's and maybe vote for me? (if you like my cowl!)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday, October 03, 2011

spiderweb doily

spiderweb doily

About a month ago I pinned this and knew right away that I was going to be making one this year. Over the weekend, I snagged a doily from my parents house (with permission!) that I thought would work perfectly for this project. My spider is fancy web spinner, I'm not sure who made the doily, it was either my grandma or great grandma.

This is such a fast project to finish, I wrapped the outside of an embroidery hoop in black ribbon, stuck the doily in the hoop and then stuck a fake spider on it. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

sharing at:
Get Your Craft On
Tip Junkie

halloween lovey (& giveaway!)

I love fall and I love Halloween! It's my favorite season and holiday to decorate and craft for, so I will probably be sharing quite a few fall/Halloween projects this month.

As soon as I saw this Halloween Lovey Doll in the Sept/Oct issue of Crochet Today, I knew I was going to make it. The day I got the magazine, I pulled out a bunch of cotton and crocheted it!

halloween lovey

He turned out pretty cute I think! I used a size 5 hook and these colors: hot orange, mod green, white, brown, black, tangerine. The only thing that I changed from the pattern is the feet, I thought they would look too funny, so I didn't bother making any.

The problem is, the only babies around here are newborn and won't get any use out of it this Halloween time. So, I'm going to do a quick giveaway for this cute lovey.

Anyone can enter to win, I'll ship anywhere. Just leave a comment letting me know you want it. You can share this giveaway for extra entries (twitter, facebook, pinterest, etc), leave another comment for each share. I'll randomly pick a winner on Saturday, October 8th.

Don't forget to enter my 500 follower giveaway as well!

Saturday, October 01, 2011

500 follower giveaway!

Here it is, the 500 follower giveaway! I can't believe that I've even reached that number (and passed it now!), thank you to every one of you who visits and comments here, I enjoy reading every comment you leave.

But, on to the real reason you came here today, the goodies! Here's what I'm giving away to one lucky follower:

aqua flea market bag

I made a flea market bag using this pattern, I used some pretty aqua yarn to make it, the pictures are showing it as more of a blue but it is so much prettier in person. In the bag, I've added a couple of pretty African Flower dishcloths and 3 skeins of some of my favorite cotton yarns; tangerine, mod green and off white (which I swear used to be called cream, I think they changed that with the label change). There might end up being a couple extra goodies not shown here, I've had a rough time finding certain things I wanted to add. But, for now this is what is up for grabs!

500 follower giveaway!

To win these goodies, you need to be a follower of my blog, leave me a comment letting me know that you are one. If you'd like an extra entry, leave me another comment letting me know how long you've been following my blog and how you found me.

The giveaway is open everywhere! I'll announce the winner on October 15th. Good luck everyone and thank you for visiting!!