hexies & ripples = a purse, of course

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My utmost thanks to Aisyah, who directed me to this tutorial for crocheting African Flowers. I have seen these on ravelry & flickr and AbSoLuTeLy love them.

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And yes, putting aside all other projects, I sat by the pool & began these delightful hexies.

But what to do with them?

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Aha. Of course -- a purse.

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But what to do for the body of the purse? How 'bout crocheted ripples?

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I have plans to attach a zipper to the upper edge and my wants-to-be-a-fashion-designer-daughter was adamant that I add some sort of strap.

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Of course this is all still in the planning stages, but even if this does not turn out how I envision it -- just the formation of these african flowers and making ripples is keen enough for me.

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soft as a lamb's ear

lamb's ear:

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With fuzzy, silvery green, soft as suede leaves, Lamb's Ears are favored for their foliage, rather than their flowers. They flower on tall spikes in shades of pinkish purple or white, in the late spring or early summer. Some gardeners's find the flower spikes charming and others cut them off to encourage the foliage, as with Hosta. Bees are not so fussy and love the slightly fragrant flowers.

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I have another lovely work on my hook. It's one of Mary Werst's doilies ---> Exquisite from her gorgeous book:

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I am using my most favorite crochet thread: Aunt Lydia's Bamboo crochet thread, & yes, I almost let out a squeal of delight when I saw that they now offer shades other than white & cream.

This pure pink color is so downy-- it reminds me of the lamb's ear that we have growing in our garden.

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It is the softest, most mesmerizing thread that just seems to quietly sing with each stitch.

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No.

Not a word to my husband that I am now hearing thread sing to me.....

Because honestly -- it's quite like therapy to feel the uber-creaminess of these stitches forming into this delicate doily.

sugar'n cream flower power rug

Flower power.

Ahhhh---that phrase always conjures up Marcia Brady -- who I wanted to be when I grew up. She was groovy. Her clothes were groovy and oh, man! I faithfully watched the Brady Brunch whenever it was on prime-time TV. And today? Well, of course, we own the DVD series and I can watch it all of the time.

Anyway, when I saw this rug on the Lily's Sugar'n Cream website, it brought back that flower-power-I-wanna-be-just-like-marcia-brady-feeling & I knew I had to make it.

The flower block is easy and I lOvE the dimensional effect of each petal.
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I used my G hook and of course, the Sugar'n cream crochet thread in their gorgeous, groovy (ahem) colors.
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Oh, ya. A pretty groovy rug.


And yes, my kids hate it when I say groovy....

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'That's just so cheezy, Mom.'

strappy & oh, so colorful

Wow.

Who knew straps could just bring it all together.

This is my Oda Bag.

And after weaving in & snipping about 40 million little ends.....

....I got this super-delightful, colorful carry-all

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...'Cool! Can you make me one?!' response from our soon-to-be-senior daughter.

Solveig's tutorial is so straightforward -- okay, so I did glean a little help from the kids as to how this all went together. (Puzzles/geometric shapes just freeze me up every time. Think freshman algebra & yes! eyes glazed over when faced with putting a puzzle together....)

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But now that is all done -- I just simply love it.

i heart grannies

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There is something simply so endearing about a crocheted granny square that -- ohhhh, I don't know -- it just delights me to no end.

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And since I am forever browsing this book & loving every motif that she has designed, I had to whip up Edie Eckman's motif #30 from her super-duper-gotta-have-this-book:

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I used scraps & leftovers from my yarn stash and came up with this color palette.

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Love the way the colors just seem to pop, but in a very quiet, whimsical sort of way.

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Whenever my day strays toward uncontrollalbe chaos -- yes, that does happen a lot -- I just picture these blocks in my mind or sometimes quickly run over to the ottoman to just look & behold how just a piece of yarn can make something so soothing to look at.

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Crazy, I know. But you know -- my husband gets that faraway gleam in his eye when looking at John Deere tractors -- but me...

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...it's that unexplainable-gotta-do-it-passion-can't-begin-to-explain-it-to-my-husband (think John Deere, dear) to recreate what both my grandmas did so many years ago.

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Yes, I really do heart grannies.

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pillowcases & headbands

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My dear blog-irlfriend, Kris from Quilted Simple asked if I would crochet an edging for her daughter's pillowcases -- and yes! her young daughter made them using vintage bedsheets -- how cool is that?

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So our nice mailman brought their package and I got to work with this simple & and yet so elegant crochet trim.

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I love the colors they chose.

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And with the leftover Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Thread, size 3 in Warm Rose, I made Jessie a headband by repeating an easy-peasy sc and dc pattern.

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The flower pattern I got from crocheting on the edge.
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And if you don't have this book -- you must add it to your crochet library. Nicky Epstein is the queen of incredible crochet stitch patterns. It is one of the most used crochet books in my collection.

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plumeria

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God does an amazing job on plumeria -- Jessie does an amazing job on the pillowcases...

...and now I hope they like the crochet edging as much as I do.

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may flower tote

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My May Flower Tote from here is now finished! And just in time as we flip the calendar from April to May.
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Never mind, of course that last night snowflakes bigger than baseballs were falling from the sky.......April showers bring May...snowflakes??
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I added a crocheted lavendar mum as a sweet embellishmet.
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The pattern for the mum I got from this book: ---> and yes, this book is one of my favorites.

(Wildflower HOT PADS & TOWEL TOPPERS by Patricia Hall)

The color of this I LOVE THIS YARN is so completely yummy....
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...and with the interior fabric & faux leather handles & lavender mum....well, it is just perfect for all the gorgeous blossoms in our yard. Like this crab-apple tree that just erupts in pinkish petals.
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Oh. And that's Jake, our golden retriever sniffing the entire lawn just in case he maybe didn't sniff that section the last time he was outside. Right. Like that is going to happen.
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I added foam-core to the inside bottom for added reinforcement and attached metal feet to give it a nice finished look.

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I love the month of May.

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'(another project that I have started: crocheted motifs that I hope will become a scarf & the Mother's Day card that I made for my mother-in-law)

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Have a blessed Mother's Day.

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