Crafty Makes in January 2015

Haven't been that busy crafty-wise in recent years but things are a-changing.  Seeing all the inspiration on the internet at Pinterest and the many crafty blogs out there has encouraged me to get with it and put my creative juices to work.  Here are a few of my makes and fixes finished in January.

Goody bag

Isn't this little bag cute?  The material in the picture is what I used to line the bag. Found it at my local thrift store.  Funny story, I bought a bunch of fabric at Goodwill and later found out a good friend of mine had donated it.  I told her next time, just check with me and I'll let you know if I want it.  Not sure what I will use the little bag for but I think it would be a good yarn ends catcher while I am working on a project.  Love the colors.  They are happy colors for me.  The pattern came from Teacup Lane.

Below are pencil holders from empty soup cans. Saw the idea on Pinterest and knew I needed to make them  You can find the instructions here at Happy Happy Nester.

Repurposing soup cans for pencil holders.

repaired sleeping bag

His right cheek was busted but all repaired now.

This sleeping bag has been around a long time.  All of my children have slept in it at one time or the other.  It was made by my oldest child's grandmother over 25 years ago.  It needed some attention with a busted cheek and was in my sewing repair pile.  When the after-Christmas sales came, I found some polyester fill at Dollar General at a greatly reduced price. It had been packaged as Christmas village snow but it would work as filling for the dog's head.   Only $3.60 spent for a total of 4 packages.  One package at Walmart is normally over $7.  Thank you Lord for little blessings.  My youngest daughter helped re-stuff the head and then I sewed it up.  All fixed and returned to its rightful owner, Danielle, at her home. Whew, one less thing to fix or finish.  

Mosaic scarf

This mosaic scarf was started before Christmas as a present for my daughter, Danielle. Unfortunately it wasn't finished until January because of life-happenings.   Look closely.  Can you see my mistake?  Two shades of white!!!  This is why I am trying to keep a crochet log/journal.   If I had listed this scarf and materials used in my crochet journal then I wouldn't have made this mistake.  Trying now to be more consistent in making entries to avoid mistakes like this in the future. But Danielle didn't even notice it until I pointed it out to her.  She loved it anyway. The  pattern came from one of my favorite blogs, Lanas de Ana.  Go check out her wonderful blog.

Dishcloths and potholder

And lastly,  I am hurriedly making dishcloths and potholders for a craft fair I plan to attending in a few months.  These dishcloths are an easy granny square pattern from the blog, Miss Abigail's Hope Chest. You can find it here.  The potholder was inspired by this pattern for a trivet.  I added a few rows.  The back is crocheted in the round.  I believe I used another pattern to modify the pattern but I can't find it this morning.  If I find it later I'll let you know.

So those are all my projects completed in January.  We're half-way through the month of February and I'm still on a roll.  Yes, getting things accomplished is a good feeling.

Some More Crochet Makes in 2014

Okay, I have been a very bad blogger.  I try and then life gets busy and I never post.  Apologies to all who have visited my blog.  I am going to try and make 2015 my year to post about my life.  

2014 was a year of increased crafty activity. Several dish cloths, 3 blankets and a few scarves were completed.  This year it is my hope that even more craftiness will be done.

As I shared previously I have been crocheting since I was a teenager but for many years set it aside. I also love to cross stitch and like crochet have not been as faithful to that skill either.  I have unfinished wips of crochet, cross-stitch, one needlepoint picture (over 25 years in the making) and scrapbook projects.

Here are some pictures of the projects I completed in 2014.  I went as a vendor to my first craft fair.  Made dishcloths, scarves, coasters, a potholder and lots of face scrubbers. 

I also made Christmas tree garlands.

The Christmas tree garland pattern can be found here The Royal Sisters.  It's simple and easy to make.  I need to make one for myself.

Finally, here's the last blanket I made in 2014 and my first commission.  The colors are much brighter than the picture shows.

The colors and pattern for this blanket are the same as previously posted here.

Okay, that's all for now.  I will be posting soon what's been happening creatively here in 2015.  

Praying whomever reads this blog has a blessed day.  

A Ta-Dah and Other Sundry Things

I finished my first ripple blanket ever.  It's not a large one - just a baby blanket.  Although my children, grown and teenagers, thought it would be fine for one of them to have.  My children are 5'5", 6'4",  6'2" and 5'8" tall from oldest to youngest.  I think their height disqualifies them for a baby blanket, don't you? Haha.

Well here it is - the Ta Dah:

Youngest daughter (5'8") did the honors of holding it up for me above.  Below my youngest son held the blanket so I could get close up pictures of the border.

I really enjoyed making this blanket. I used Lucy's pattern for the ripple, Heather's instructions on making a ripple straight for the edging and Angie's edging pattern.  I loved the edging and how it compliments the ripple.  The colors were inspired by Lauren's Rainbow Chevron Blanket at Daisy Cottage Designs. This blanket is now off to little Jenna.  Hope she enjoys it for many months to come.

Here's what I'm working on now.  This beauty is for a baby girl due in August.  I'm using the Granny Stripe pattern from Maybe Matilda.  I'm going to add some granny squares like these Ana's mom did here. Hopefully I will keep the pace up and have it finished before the baby gets here.  Need to work on 3 more baby blankets with babies due in August and September.  Oh my - what a great excuse to crochet.

Here are a few pics of my constant companions in my crochet endeavors.  Too bad they can't pick up a crochet hook and help me.

This is Olivia.  She's 13 years old and is always wanting to be in someone's lap.

Max is our 2 year old sweet doggie.  He is always by my side when I sit down.

We're always trying something new in the food department.  Here are a couple of recent food ideas we tried.

Mini Sausage Rolls

Saw sausage rolls on a British blog, don't remember which and wanted to make them.   I found this recipe on Down---to---Earth blog. It was so easy to follow and she put in U.S. terms the oven settings.  This is a wonderful blog with lots of helpful hints for housekeeping and frugal living.  I liked the sausage rolls but I chose the wrong kind of sausage.  I bought breakfast sausage at the store instead of plain ground pork.  Toooooo mmmmmmuuuuuch fat!!! In American sausage, extra fat is added to the breakfast one.  Next time I will try plain ground pork, beef or turkey.  Kids liked them except for the greasiness. I liked the fact you could add vegetables to them for added nutrients.  Maybe they would go good with some dipping sauce like fresh salsa, honey mustard, hmm.  Will have to try that next time.

Dried Zucchini

Next we tried dehydrated zucchini or zucchini chips.  The recipe came from Pioneer Momma.  Lots of neat ideas on her site.  Stephanie and I loved the zucchini chips.  In fact, Stephanie ate all of the top rack before the chips were completely dried.  Wonderful snack.  We tried them with sea salt, chili powder and sea salt, and garlic salt.  Stephanie liked the sea salt ones best.  I liked all of them.  Son Nathan said they were okay but he doesn't like vegetables very much.  I'm trying to change that. That's why I try to slip in vegetables wherever I can - like the sausage rolls above.

Hope you are having a wonderful day, wherever you are.  Here are some flowers blooming in my yard right now and a beautiful sunflower field I pass on the way to work in Memphis.

Upper left: Petunias that reseeded to bloom this year. Upper right: Pale pink day lily.

Bottom left:  Day lily with double bloom.  Bottom right:  Rose of Sharon

Every year this field blooms full of sunflowers and in the fall it feeds the many doves and other birds that live in the area.

Left: sunflower and right: plains coreopsis growing in the field with the sunflowers. Coreopsis grows wild along our roads in the summer.

Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Psalm 145:2