It Begins!

I have  started my christmas crocheting!  

It seems so early, and yet I know that I always end up crocheting things at the last minute at holiday time, so here's hoping starting way early will help minimize the panic!

Today was spend my favorite way-- on the couch in comfy pants, hook in hand, watching football!  What's your favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

S

8 Years!

Celebrating 8 years with my ERL this week :)  Had a lovely dinner at a small place where he and I frequently lunched when we were first dating.  Just the two of us, it is so rare to have a dinner out where I get to have a complete conversation and not even have to shush a short person or wipe a nose.  Bliss!

Anyway, as I said yesterday, he's my favorite guy I've ever met.  We're like peas and carrots.
I made this for him a few Valentine's Days ago because it perfectly expresses how I feel about us.
Forever.

On another note, omigolly I had no idea how difficult it would be to blog daily!  

ERL Is My Favorite

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I will say once again, my ERL is the best guy ever.   He buys me books ALL the time, from my Amazon wishlist.  This weeks surprise book in the mail, Crochet Boutique!  Woohoo!  Just in time for some holiday hookin!

Loving this book, tons of great chunky cowls and cute hats!  Its been a hectic week, so I haven't had much time to dig in, but so far I've made this from the book:

Isn't it cute?!  Babygirl has requested a pink and a purple one, which should be the perfect motivation to get crackin on some of the cute things from this book!

Happy Friday!

NaBloPoMo

I've been away, but here I am again!  Yesterday I came across something about National Blog Post Month on BlogHer, and thought I'd give it a shot and am up for the challenge of posting something every day in November.  I originally started this blog as an outlet to share crafty stuff, but also, to return to an old abandoned love, WRITING.  Clearly I have not kept up on it and I'm hoping this will help encourage me to speak up and remember that I don't always have to share a completed project, or preach on social commentary, I just have to write, even if no one is reading!

If you are reading, THANK YOU!  I love you and I love comments.  Also, I sincerely hope I don't bore you to tears or annoy the heck out of you with my daily postings :)  I swear I'll try to keep it interesting!

For today, a photo of the cutest city critter around...I don't know about you, but I have a serious love/hate relationship with these little buggers!

See ya tomorrow!

A Farewell To Summer (sort of)

Ahh, finally, back to school!  I always feel slightly mean when I excitedly count down the days until the kids are back in school, but its true.  This year they started a little later than normal, an effort by the district to keep the kids out of very old buildings with no air conditioning, due to the fact that Colorado is quickly becoming a desert. (sort of)  First day of school was Monday, and the high for the day was a whopping 98 degrees...so much for that idea.

We had a great summer!  Had lots of fun here in the city, and still had time to participate in a few Craftster swaps!  I've got a back log of photos of things I made over the summer that I haven't had time to share with y'all, so the next couple of posts will get you caught up on my latest adventures in makin' stuff.

This trio was made for the Sew Something Summery Swap--so much fun to dive in to a sewing themed swap when I still consider myself very much a beginner.  A very simple (and reversible) tote bag, wristlet, and lined zipper purse.

I found some PVC shower curtain in the remnant bin at JoAnn and lined the inside with it.  I didn't write down the measurement of the bag (duh) but it is big enough and designed for a wet swimming suit to be thrown into.  This came out better than expected, and while I didn't have time/will/energy to make more, it is definitely on my list of items to make for the kids for next summer.

 Of course I had to throw in some fancy embroidery to try to make up for the sewing  being so simple.

The center of the flower is all french knots!  Honestly, I was very happy to have a project that would give me the opportunity to make a bazillion of them, is that twisted or what?  Also, any chance to practice satin stitching is a good one, so I used tons of that too!

Ah, I think I'll enjoy the quiet of only have one kid at home for the rest of the afternoon, in the A/C, of course.  Because, back to school may say fall, but around here, mother nature says it going to be 95 degrees today.  Yay summer!

Crochet! Remember that?

I've been super lazy about the blog lately!  Also, had a few minor catastrophic events in my life...#1-had another birthday.  Every year I dislike the number attached even more!  #2-my laptop died!  Ok, this was the real catastrophic event.  I didn't lose anything precious or irreplaceable like family photos or anything, as they are backed up elsewhere, but oh my! the craft info I lost was huge!  So many bookmarks, saved freebie patterns, folders full of pics of finished projects just waiting to be posted to the old bloggy blog....it is an information gathering and organizational nightmare that I haven't had the energy to tackle just yet!

However, I have (as usual) been working on a bazillion projects at once!

I completed my first "granny square" afghan.  Actually, its a lapghan.  It took forever!  Truly, I don't know how people have the will to complete full sized afghans made from tiny squares.  I must have spent four hours just weaving in the ends on the squares, not to mention putting them all together, and there are only thirty six of them!  (I used the single crochet method, the jury is still out on whether or not I'll use that method again).

The squares are called "circle in a square" and work up very quickly once you get the hang of it.  I would sit watching TV and make four or so in a sitting (note to future self--weave in those ends every couple of squares!!!)   Once the squares were sewn together, the blanket still seemed to small so I did a few rounds of double crochet around the edge the make it larger.

I didn't take a final measurement but it fit nicely across my lap.  All in all, this project was a major pain in the butt, but in the end, I think it came out fun and bright because of the color combination, and was absolutely a learning experience!

I've actually been finishing projects lately, so more stuff to come!  Happy Weekend!

Adventures in Sewing Part 6--Look! Up in the Sky!

Its...Superdude!

This is my absolute favorite sewing project to date!  So much fun to make and all of my own design :)  This was all pulled together for my sweet little buddy in Canada's 3rd birthday.

My original plan was to do the emblem with the fancy freezer paper applique method using regular cotton fabric.  I quickly realized that it was too much thinking/cutting so I switched to felt.  Much easier!  Was not, however, much easier to actually sew down.  I discovered that felt is very hard to keep still while machine sewing, so there was a little bit of puckering at the end of the circle.

When figuring this all out in my head, I remembered when NinjaBoy was little, and that things to tie around your neck aren't always the best things for play!  I was inspired by the old Superman pajamas that had velcro right on the shoulders to attach the cape, and went with it by attaching a strip of Velcro to the back of each shirt and to the inside of the cape.

The cape!  Crazy for this fabric I found at JoAnn!  I cut two pieces using NinjaBoy's old cape that lanikins made him way back when as a template.  My thinking was that it would be too flimsy if it was only one piece of fabric, plus, who wants to see the wrong side of printed fabric?

Yet another project that taught me that single fold bias tape is the devil.  Luckily, I had this lovely satin-y ribbon in the stash that matched almost perfectly!  It was tricky holding it on there for the sewing, discovered quickly that pins left nasty holes in the ribbon so here's a pic of what I used to hold it all together:

Woohoo!  I love clothespins!  Seriously, they are handy in so many ways!

Here's a group shot of the whole costume together!

So whattya think?