pretty petals redo

Falling in love with this pattern: Pretty Petals Potholder  my mind started swirling for ways to embrace a bit of a redo.

Redo #1:  pretty petals become a pretty petal ring.

Redo #2:  pretty petals become a pretty petals headband.

Redo #3:  a tiny hole in my favorite bedspread becomes non-existent with a pretty petals cover-up

And now? 

Well, I think I will crochet the actual potholder.



blue velvet & sunshine

Yes.  Another one.

From the same book as my last doily.  This one is called:  Blue Velvet.

Gorgeous pineapples (to which I seem quite enamoured with lately) but for some reason this has come out waaaaaaaaaaaay smaller than the finished 34 inches stated in the pattern. 

I never check gauge on a doily --- if it calls for size 10 thread and size 7 steel hook, I know the end result will not be that much off.  But sheesh! the first 3 rnds were suppose to be almost 4 inches in diameter.  Really?  Just how big was that hook?  Or am I just the tightest crocheter in the world?

Needless to say it is still quite beautiful & flow-ey & blue velvety & it's. a. doily. ( And as much as my family thinks I am completely nuts for being in love with these things --- well, I am.)

Now about the sunshine. 

The uber-talented & inspirational Melissa (who, btw -- is instrumental with me getting this completed) gave me a bit of sunshine with this lovely award. 

Thank you, Melissa.  (You have no idea how grateful I am to you for keeping me focused!)

Part of winning this award is telling a little bit of myself.

How about with pictures?

Here is everything (well....almost everything) I adore:

And now I get to nominate 10 recipients of this sunshine award. 

Ready? 

I will give this same award to the first 10 who comment on this post....

1. Aisyah (my dearest of blogirl-friends who inspires/motivates/ & inspires me some more!)

2. Jane S. (who left such a lovely comment)

3. Cherrie (who has been w/ me since the beginning -- I adore her!)

4. Tammy (oh, my goodness! she finds beauty in the remotest of places!)

5. Penelope ( I Love her talent and projects -- and that's with a capital L!)

6. Charlotte (yard sales & crochet --- ok. what more is there?)

7. Alessandra (beauty from Italy)

8. Anna (simply one of my favorites)

9. Ana Paula (gorgeous crochet that I covet admire deeply!) 

10. La Mañosa (if only, if only! I could have an ounce of her quilting skills!)

Okay, girls!  Grab your sunshine, tell us about yourselves and nominate 10 other gorgeously talented girls!

And thank you --- all of you!  Your blog-friendship is definite sunshine in my world.

such a rosey finish

A finish.

A rosey finish!  Complete with lacey pineapples and pearls.

It is from this book:

And even tho I ran into some major snafus....

...I have come away smitten by the simple beauty that can come from a mere size 7 hook and size 10 crochet thread. 

Yup. Just give me a crochet project, sleeping kitties, flowers, stacked dishes, etc...

...and chaos just seems to disappear.

Hello to a quiet world filled with sweet, simple things.

For awhile anyway.....

giving up--- not an option

Many moons ago, I started this doily.  In fact, I started it waaaaaaaaaaaaay back here.  

The reason why it never got finished? 

I kept getting stuck on Rnd 15.  To the point -- after frogging the silly thing 4 times ---- I gave up.

But giving up is not option when it involves lace & roses & pineapples. 

So cue soft, warm nights with the soothing sound of bugs calling out ---> equals the desire/need/want to hook this thing to completion.

Okay. 

Truth be told, it was more like swatting pesky mosquitoes in the humidity & heat while trying to keep track of split tr cl and tr-cl shells and beg tr-cl shells & what Rnd did I just complete!?

And then!?

I get to Rnd 18 & 19.....wait, there is no Rnd 18 or 19 printed in the book.  What!?  Seriously?  Now I am beginning to feel as if this doily is not meant to be.  There is where giving up truly started to become a reality.

Bu thank goodness -- after much searching for the missing rnds, I found the correction on Annie's Attic website.

Phew. 

So after all of that I am finally completing the last rnd that involves about a billion picots (not my favorite, btw) and I will finish this beautiful pineapple rose doily by affixing 8 more rosettes to the edge.

Ahh.  Feels good when I see this lacey garden taking shape. 

And 'escaping' death-by-Rnd-15-and-the-lack-of-printed-Rnd-18-and-19 feels even better.




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independence day

Trying my hand at something new....

My grandma was exceptional at it.  As are many of you.

So I am on a quest to see if I can carry on her in her footsteps.  Again.

Oh, and of course, I mustn't forget ---->

~~Happy Independence Day!~~




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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...



.......

a square a day + a whole lot of joining = a throw!

Wow.  I amazed by this throw for so many reasons.
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The first being that it turned out so lovely!

When I first started to crochet the squares together, I decided on a turquoise color as the joining color.

Ehhh.  Not so good.  Or as my kids would say, 'pretty cheesy'.  And actually I thought the turquoise overpowered the whole look of this throw.

So, as you can tell from this pile of ramen-noodle-looking-yarn, I had to frog about 8 blocks worth of turquoise joining...and if that weren't time consuming enough, I realized that some of the blocks were not even close to being 12 inches square.  And as much I figured it wasn't going to be a big deal --- it was.

Turquoise was out and white was in. 

And being precise about the actual size of each block became much more crucial than I thought --- it was either that or have one lumpy looking throw. 

And then I found this video for the flat-braid joining.  A perfect method for the look I wanted.  I made sure that I crocheted 22 3chain loops on each side of every block and a 5chain loop for each corner. 

This throw is also amazing to me because I finished it. 
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That is H.U.G.E. for me. 
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I see other people whip out project after project all perfectly completed ....but me?  Well, let's just say I have a pile of WIP's that weigh heavily on my guilted ( I know -- not a word) mind.

Sheesh.  And it's just yarn.

But this!?

It's much, much more than just yarn.

It's Melissa coming up with the idea.  It's oodles of designers sharing their patterns.  It's the hours of hooking.  It's the constant inspiration from others who are stitching right along with me.  It's the heady feeling that I get when I read comments that come from you. 
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All of that --just thrills me to no end.




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