Miss Lovey

When I was little I made a billion Heart People out of construction paper.  Yes.  A billion.

They hung all over the house and my scissors could not move fast enough to keep up with how many hearts I wanted to adhere together.

Sadly my construction paper days are over, but not my days of dabbling in yarn.

And if you can make Heart People out of paper ~ well...why can't you make them out of yarn?

This is Miss Lovey.

And she was made out of hearts, of course.

This is my most favorite pattern for a crochet heart -- ever.

After making 2 of my most favorite crochet hearts, I stuffed it and edged it with single crochet in white.

Button eyes, embroidered floss mouth, 2 tiny hearts for a barrette & heart-shaped hands & shoes for Miss Lovey.

It took me awhile to figure out how to make the arms & legs.  With paper, I would accordion-fold strips for the arms & legs.  So what to do with crochet?

How 'bout corkscrew arms & legs?

It's been awhile since I have done this stitch but I watched this as a great refresher on how to crochet a spiral/corkscrew.

I think she is lovely. 

♥ ♥ ♥...

strawberries & a ladybug

I am hopeless when it comes to actually growing a garden filled with strawberries. 
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And I have the most vivid memories of picking them by the pails-full in my Aunt Anna Mae's garden.  Row after row I would walk, diving for the big, red heart-shaped fruit.  Of course, my pail was pretty near empty as I would devour almost all of them.
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So.  I can't grow 'em, but Lesley Stanfield can sure design a pattern that looks like the real thing.  And her book is just filled with oodles & oodles of the cutest, buggy-flowery-almost-edible looking delights....

Adding tiny seed beads to mimic the seeds of the strawberry? --- beyond cute.

I used Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation yarn (which I looooove, btw.  Soft from the get-go & the most fabulous of colors) and fluctuated between using my F & G hook.

Lesley's leaf pattern is my most favorite of leaf patterns & seeing all of the adorable 'little beasts' that she includes in her book -- I just had to crocheted her ladybug. 
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Adorable.
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So adorable that between our golden retriever puppy (naughty boy that he is) and the cats --- sheesh!  those furry, little rascals were/are under the impression that these stuffed items are actually toys intended only for them.  You can not believe how many times when crocheting the last details, the strawberries & ladybug would disappear from the sofa cushion only to find them in the mouth of some very guilty looking pets.

Now, on to her butterfly pattern.  Or caterpillar pattern.  Or Bachelor's Button flower...



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