Wednesday Update

Hello,
 How is everyone tonight? On Sunday I went to the library and was super excited to find a book I had seen in magazines and really wanted. Since I didn't know if I would like the rest of the book I couldn't justify the expense for maybe one pattern. I would see it from time to time and wish that I could find it in a library. Well, I found it. I have to say I am really happy that I did not buy the book. The pattern for the hat that is on the cover is the only one I like and the pattern has so many mistakes in it that I had to re-do most of it on my own. I should have known when it said I would need 657 yards of yarn. What? I read that over and over. Most hats are well under 200 yards. Not only was the yardage wrong, I used maybe 125 yards, but I had to change hook size. It is an adult sized hat and I checked the gauge. No problem. Started making it and realized it wouldn't fit even my daughter. I went up two hook sizes and it just fits my 6 year old. Now, my gauge matched with the book and using the hook called for in the pattern. So I changed the hook size and made the hat. Then I got to the ruffle. I followed the pattern and it looked nothing at all like the photo in the book. Nothing at all. Again, I went back and re-did the ruffle using my own design. The hat that I wanted is now finished and fits my daughter not me. So glad I didn't buy the book. Here is Autumn in 'my' hat. Lol.

Turned out kind of cute, here is the book.

This is another photo of the finished hat.

Sorry for the blur. I could not get a good shot of it. Too bad the pattern was a mess. I don't think the body of the hat looks like the photo either and I did follow the pattern until the ruffle. Oh well. Like I said, glad I didn't buy the book.
 I also got my hair cut last on Saturday. I used to have really long hair. I gave 18 inches of it to Locks of Love when I first got it cut.

Here it is now.

I liked my long hair, but it was so much work I decided on a change. I always ended up putting it up on top of my head anyway. For the last 6 months or so I realized I was always wearing it up again. So I went and got it cut off.  I forgot how curly my hair can be. Love the hair cut though, don't do anything but let it dry after my shower. I think I had better start to wear some make-up or something though. 44 is not 24. Lol.
 My last little ramble for the day. If you read my blog you know I have been super frustrated with the postal system here. Packages sent by me and not delivered. Packages sent to me and opened and things missing, etc. I could go on. I went to the post office to send a package. I decided to give it one more try since UPS and FedEx are not too close to where I live and I don't really drive anywhere during the week. My car is a gas hog and Will uses his to get to work. I got to the post office and all the regular people are gone. Maybe things will change now. I sent my friend Tracy another package (third try) on Monday. Lets hope it gets to England sometime next week.
 I did get some nice news yesterday. Two very kind bloggers have given me the Sunshine Award. I will do a post about that tomorrow. I always feel honored that anyone is even reading my blog. Thank you to Barbina and Eileen. I really love both of these blogs.

Ta Dah Sunday

Hello,
 My little family is really excited to be moving in a few weeks. We are going to turn the basement at the new house into a family room and so I have been mentally designing and arranging all kinds of things. We will need to buy a new sofa set once we get moved in, but it may take a little time to find what we want and we want the space to be comfortable. I have an easy chair and my rocking chair that will go down there for now. I wanted a big floor pillow too. I couldn't find anything that I remotely liked anywhere so I decided to make my own. I bought a huge pillow form. 45"x35". I also bought some really pretty batik fabric. I woke early this morning and cut the fabric and made the pillow cover.

This is the back before I sewed it together, here is the front.

I guess I am the only one who will know which side is the front and which is the back, lol. I then spent a happy couple of hours sewing it all together.

Yes, it was still dark outside when I was doing this. If you read my blog you know most of my crafting is done before the sun comes up. Here is the pillow.

It is very comfy. Autumn is already using it. When I finished I pulled out my Granny Ripple to work on the border. The whole time I have been making it I have been wondering what the heck I would do with it. It doesn't match our living room or either of the bedrooms. So imagine how happy I was when I realized it goes perfectly with the pillow that is going to be in the family room. When I started the blanket we had no idea we would move this summer.

Yippee! Cause I love this blanket. Not quite done yet. That will be another post soon. Please excuse the mess. We have boxes everywhere all over our house.
  Just one more thing to show before we go down into town to have some fun. I made this plastic bag holder for work. We go through an unbelievable amount of plastic bags. We use them to send dirty clothes home. I take care of babies in a nursery.

It is hanging from my kitchen cabinet at the moment. Turned out well. If anyone wants to make one let me know and I will post a tutorial. It only took about an hour and a half to make. You can't see what a mess our kitchen is right now either. The whole house is. But instead of frustrating me, we are so excited to be moving out of this tiny place that having boxes everywhere is a small thing to deal with.
 Now we are off. We are going to buy my husband some new shoes then we are going downtown to the big library and the pedestrian mall. There is always something fun to do there and it is going to be in the 90's again today. Have a fabulous Sunday! Talk to everyone soon.

P.S. I forgot to take photos of the things I made for Sue in the Jubilee swap. Duh. She was lovely and posted pics. Hope over to see her blog. She is amazing with needle and thread. Really amazing.

Japanese Flower Scarf

Hello,
 I am excited to be starting a Japanese Flower Scarf. I got the yarn in the middle of April and told myself I could start it when I finished a few projects. I finished a bag today and will post photos of it as soon as I line it and I have finished a few other projects too. I started the scarf today. Just one flower to start with. Here it is.

I love the yarn a lot. It is Debbie Bliss Andes. It is dk wt. but it is very thin, almost like sock yarn. It is by far the softest yarn I have ever felt though and this scarf is going to be for me. Not giving this one away to anyone. For the pattern I suggest doing a Ravelry search or even a google search. I have looked at several patterns and they are all basically the same. Most say to use fingerling yarn, but I have seen these flowers made with everything from sock yarn to worsted wt. I think it is whatever you prefer. My friend Teresa has helped with coloring a chart to show where to change colors. It is fun to make and the flowers work up pretty quickly. That is all I have today, just wanted to share this lovely yarn and the fun flower. :)

Rose Wreath Ta Dah

Hello,
 What a beautiful day it was today. We went to the Iowa City Festival of Arts this afternoon and it was a perfect day. Autumn and I got up early and went to our local park and had a picnic for breakfast. Then when Will woke up we got ready and went down to the Festival. I love it. They close the streets and artisans have stalls lining several streets. There was also a lot of things for the children to do and it was all free. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera and my phone was dead. Story of my life. Lol.
 When we got home Autumn and Will took a nap and I finished this little thing I have been working on this week. It is straight from Lucy of Attic24. I love the roses she designed.  The wreath is for my daughter's bedroom door when we move in a few weeks.

 The roses are really addictive and I have made around 20 of them so far for different things. That is about it for me today. I am really tired and I think I may have gotten a little too much sun today. I was smart though and made lunches for tomorrow and have our clothes set out. Now all I have to do is finish my Stylin Ripple and relax in my favorite spot on the couch in the living room. I wonder where my favorite spot is going to be when we move. Can you tell I am excited to move on from this little place and back into a house with room to breathe. Yippee. I am feeling super creative and have so many ideas for things to make for our new home. Not all crochet either. Talk to you all soon. :)

Last Day of School and Jubilee Swap

Hello,
 Here we are at the beginning of summer vacation and I can't believe how quickly this last year has flown by. Last year at this time I was getting ready for knee replacement in June. This year my daughter has just finished Kindergarten and is ready for First grade.

This was the first day of Kindergarten.

Here she is on the last day of Kindergarten in the dress I made for her on Monday.

This was her teacher this year and I have to say that we LoVe Julia Woessner. We will dearly miss you!
 What a day it turned out to be, one of Autumn's best friends fell on the playground and broke her arm very badly and had to have surgery. She got out of the hospital this morning. Poor little baby. They only had school for three hours that day. Autumn and her friend were in preschool together too and we found out she will be in Autumn's class next year as well, yay. Get well soon Miss Ella.
 When things like that happen I think about how much I love this little town we live in. Autumn has known most of her friends since she was 2 or 3 and the whole town kind of watches over our little people and each other. When I had knee surgery last year and couldn't do much of anything, I felt so grateful for all the people who offered to take Autumn out to do things. We have only lived in this town for 6 1/2 years, but I don't think I want to live anywhere else. I feel that way about Iowa too. I moved here from a beach town in Southern California and everyone thought I had lost my mind when I suddenly packed up and moved here. No one could really understand why I was leaving California to come to the Mid-West. For me it is simple. People here are very kind, very friendly and very welcoming. I came here for vacation to visit some old friends and went back home, gave notice to my job, gave lots of things away, packed up my car and drove out here all by myself. I got here in mid October 2000, I was wearing shorts (I am from Cali where you can where shorts on Christmas) and it was snowing. Before I even went to my new home I had to stop at Walmart and buy a coat. Like I said, I was coming from California and didn't even own one. Lol. Was it an impulsive decision? Yes. Was it a mistake? No. It was the very best decision I have ever made. I met my husband here and had my baby here. I love it.
 I have been a bit sentimental this week. My stepfather's birthday was Monday, he passed last year. My daughter finished her first year of elementary school. We are packing to move in a few weeks time. I have been trying to sleep at night but can't shut my brain down. No worries. Just lots to think about.
 So that was personal life stuff. Now for crafty blogger stuff. I have been having the absolute worst time with the post this year. I have sent TWO packages to my friend, Tracy, in Somerset. She never got them. I got the one she sent to me weeks ago. Last week I had a slip from the post office saying I had a parcel but there was postage due. I went to collect it and they couldn't find it anywhere.  It showed up here on Saturday. That happened with some yarn I ordered months ago too. I still don't know where Tracy's packages are either.
 I have also been in a Jubilee swap and my partner on this hasn't gotten her parcel yet. So aggravating. I got the one she sent me on Saturday and it had been opened!?!? All parcels I send out from now on are going through a courier service.
 Long post, sorry, but here is what the wonderfully talented Sue from Crafts@Home sent to me.

Here is the whole package. I am really enjoying this and Autumn and I are going to have our own little Jubilee celebration this weekend while my husband is at work. I loved and treasure my time in England and have total respect and admiration for Queen Elizabeth.

We have bunting, a fabric square, an emery board, hot chocolate, some Union Jack cupcake toppers, a banner with the Queen and Prince Phillip and the last is a little vanity mirror that Sue made with a little bag for it. It is already in my purse. The swap was a lot of fun and I am hoping Sue gets her things tomorrow. The swap was hosted by Crafts@Home and Moonstruck Creations. Both are ladies make really nice things. Sue does crazy patchwork and it is some of the most beautiful work I have ever seen anywhere. She embroiders over patchwork squares and makes quilts, bags and other really pretty works of art with her needles and threads. Go check out her work and check out Moonstruck Creations, she was one of my first followers and Helen is also very talented in crochet, needlework, baking and, I am sure, many more things.
 Whew, this is my longest post and I hope I didn't lose anyone. I still have to post two more ta da's, but that can wait until tomorrow. Talk to everyone soon. :)

Happy Memorial Day!

Hello,
 I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't been a good blogger lately. End of school year and getting ready to move. I felt like I was stuck in a creative rut and was just working on bigger projects that needed to be finished up. This weekend I have come out of the creative rut. I am obsessed with flowers right now. Lucy made a tutorial for her May Roses and I can't quit making them. I made this headband for Autumn on Thursday.

I liked it so much, and so did Autumn, that I decided to make her one out of crochet. The plastic one kept coming off her head. So yesterday I made her this one.

And here she is, very pleased to be the model.

The aqua flower is from Alice Best and the roses are Lucy's. The rest came from my own brain.
 I also made a bootie for a baby bootie CAL we were having at Everything Zen on Ravelry. I made three different ones and don't like them. This one is too stiff and I don't want to give it to the baby I was making it for.

 I also got a swap package in the mail, I will post that tomorrow. There are a lot of photos.
 I made a dress for Autumn that I will hem tonight and take photos of tomorrow when she wears it to the last day of school. I can't believe my baby is finished with Kindergarten. This year has flown by.
 I made another bag, have to take photos of that, I felted a small little bag for a gift and have also started work on a wreath.

I sat in a pile of cotton this morning happily stitching away. I covered the styrofoam ring already and am about to keep going on the flower addiction. This will go on Autumn's bedroom door in the new house. I am already full of ideas for every room in the place.
 I am off tomorrow and will do a follow up post with more photos.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend. We are here.

The Felting Disaster

Hello,
 How is everyone today? What a beautiful day we have had here. It started out in a crazy way. Last Friday the blacktop on our driveway was redone and we weren't able to park on it for three days. I took my car to work and left it there. I pulled it into the driveway at work, I had permission and knew it would be safe there. Yesterday I told Will we should go get it before it got too late. I don't work until 7:00am and the spot I had the car in is for the 6:30am staff member. She wouldn't have cared, but I didn't want my car in her spot. I ended up falling to sleep before we could go get it and bring it home. I got up at 4 this morning, as usual, had my coffee, showered, got dressed. Everyone was still asleep and it was only 4:45. The sun was a dim light on the horizon so I took off and walked to work to get the car and bring it home before my co-worker came in and needed her spot. I get all the way down there and turn the corner and the car wasn't there. My heart dropped to my stomach. I couldn't figure out what the heck. I have the only set of keys to the car and I had them with me. I got back home and looked down a side street and there the car was. Our driveway was still taped off. I don't know how Will even knew where to find the keys. I change bags all the time and how he found them I don't know. They weren't even in the bag I carried all weekend. Needless to say I was relieved. The whole walk home I was hoping that he had somehow come and got it. He was just being a good hubby. It was Mother's Day after all. I don't even drive the car very much. I have been walking to work and the grocery store here in town. Gas has gotten so expensive, I feel guilty driving the thing if I don't really need to. Our other car is a little Saturn that gets great gas mileage, Will drives that to work. He works down in Iowa City. I work 3 blocks from my house.

 After coming home from work I decided I finally had time to felt the bag I had crocheted a couple of weeks ago. I have made four felted bags before I attempted this one. They all turned out really nicely and I gave all of them away as gifts. This was well over a year ago, I wasn't blogging or on Ravelry yet and didn't take any photos. This one did not come out.

For one thing the top is so much wider than the bottom and it turned out too short. Should have made it three times deeper. I made it exactly the same way I made the last one, but this one did not work. The good thing is that once a crocheted piece is felted, you can cut it. I will turn it into something else. I had to laugh. I won't even explain the process since it didn't work out. My plan had been to do a felting tutorial. Ha ha.
 I did get some really nice yarn last week. I had heard about Debbie Bliss Andes but never seen it or worked with it. I got 10 hanks of it. It is really soft, really pretty and so far I love working with it. I am making a shawl with it. Here is the yarn.

This was my Mother's Day project. I rolled all of the yarn into balls. No one was awake, it was 4 or so in the morning, I had my coffee and my yarn. Soon into this my little daughter woke up gave me my Mother's Day presents. I got  a box of chocolate, Adele 21 and a card Autumn made me. It was a nice day. It has been a nice weekend altogether. We weren't even looking and we found a house. Yay! We will be moving in July. Yay! We have been pretty couped up in this tiny little place.
 I still have a couple of WIPs. My granny ripple is almost done. I think I will wait to update on that until it is finished. I am very close. Maybe by the weekend I can show it finished.
 I will talk to everyone soon.  :)