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Cross Stitch……and sharp needles

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Do you know how much it hurts to stab yourself with a sharp needle, under the fingernail no less? I did it yesterday while working on a cross stitch project that’s been a WIP for about 5 years and the end is in sight.  I was stitching just a little too fast and bham!, the needle came through the cloth and jammed up under my thumbnail–the one I had just lost earlier that day so it was still tender.  Yeah, I said a bad word or two…..ok, about fourteen but who’s counting???

This was a project I started for my youngest DD a long time ago. This daughter loves anything Japanese. They were originally greeting cards but I think I’m going to frame them in one long frame with all three in one frame, the bonsai tree in the middle of the panda and the koi. If you look closely you can see those darn needles, one of which probably still has my blood on it lol.  All in all, needles sticks notwithstanding, I am pleased with how this project is coming along. I apologize for the blurriness of the photo, used my DH’s fishing camera again. You would think it would do a little better since the one piece is koi–which are FISH!  I can’t wait until I get my new camera. I’m going to go nuts with it (ok, if you ask certain members of my family I’m already nuts, but hey, where’s the fun in being sane;) and probably replace about half the photo’s on my blog.   I’m kinda looking forward to it.

I am working on a design project and I love the yarn I’m working with–the color more than the yarn itself. I am using Peaches & Creme worsted weight cotton in the colorway “Earthtone”.  I think the colors are wonderful, but you can’t really tell from the photo at left. I would rather it was in another fiber instead of cotton.  I am using  it to make a jar cover that I am going to make into a small sewing kit to keep on my nightstand.  This is a pattern I  plan to share on the Holiday Mystery Gifts group on Yahoo later this year. I am also using a pattern stitch I found in a book I requested on PaperBack Swap–a site I love love love. It’s free! I can post books I don’t want so others can request, I get a credit I can use to get books I want. All I have to do is pay the postage to send the book someone has requested from me. For avid readers like my DD and I, this is awesome! The book I just got is a Reader’s Digest Stitch Dictionary, which includes more than just crochet and knit.  Awesome book!

Time to go do some hooking. Have a great night. It is Friday, after all. I’m hoping the weather will be decent this weekend even though it’s supposed to be cold. I would like to get out of the house for a while tomorrow.

Happy Crafting!

Sherry

: Other Crafts
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Valentine’s Day Purse

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I made a Valentine’s Day purse for my oldest DD. She had bought the material some time ago and we couldn’t quite decide what to use it for, other than the fact that she wanted a purse (she has “thing” for purses lol).  She had a purse that she really liked and I realized that I had a pattern that was similar, and voila!, RJ’s Valentine Purse was born.  Please excuse the picture quality. My DH was helping me and I had to once again use his fishing camera……….sigh.  I am very happy with it, and she absolutely loves it.

Happy crafting!

Sherry

Finished Bag

Lining and Pocket

: Sewing & Quilting
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Beautiful sunshine today!

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Sunny skies are here again!

We have such beautiful sunshine here today. The temperature is still cold, but the sun was amazing. It reminds me that all things change, even the seasons. They may seem slow, but it won’t be long before spring is really here….for a while lol.  Here is a photo I took so you can see. Isn’t it gorgeous!

Even though I’ve been a very bad blogger, I have been busy nonetheless.  I’ve been doing some crochet, sewing, reading, a very little bit of knitting, and a bit of spring cleaning. There’s also the dreaded income taxes, which I do for just about all of my immediate family. Then I had the even deadlier partial year resident taxes for Indiana, which I had to do cause we lived in Indiana for all of five months last year. Everybody wants part of your money, which doesn’t leave anything for Diet Pepsi & pizza!

One of the things I just finished (actually two, but same idea) are some iPod Touch cases for my DH and youngest DD.  He wanted his to hold the plastic case that the iPod comes in. That way he could put all in his stuff in that and carry it in the case.  Kaitlin wanted her’ to fit her Touch and have a pocket on the inside. They both had to have a clip on the back so they could carry it. I confess, I did get some material to make me one also but I haven’t done it yet. John’s was so frustrating, Kaitlin’s went a little better, but I’ve just not had the drive to make mine yet.  Here is what their’s look like.

This is John’s. I made it from plain black broadcloth. Please excuse the color. I used his fishing camera to take the photo’s, and since it’s not fish I guess it didn’t feel like it had to do a good job with the color lol. I am really pleased with how they turned out. You can’t tell from the photo’s, but the case really IS very black.  I hopefully will be getting a new camera of my very own soon. I can’t wait. I’ve been looking at some and I think I’m going to get a Canon. Once I go shopping though I may see something I like better.

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This is Kaitlin’s case. She chose a Batik print for her case, with a butterfly print for the inside. We are not ones who feel that the outside has to always coordinate with the inside, lol. People are like that, so why not other stuff? She is very happy with this case and so am I. It worked up much easier than  the first one. I am also going to make her a strap with a metal ring on the end so she can carry it like a little bag instead of clipped to a belt loop or pocket.

I got the idea to make this mainly from two tutorials. I did some experimenting with what worked best for me. I did use a thin lining for these for added protection.  I also used swear words, which of course are optional. ;)

The tutorials I looked at were great. The first is at Sew, Mama, Sew! and was an iPod/Camera Cozy Tutorial. I love this site. I’ve gotten quite a few ideas from there to add to my overwhelming  “To Make” list. I will have to live to be older than Methuselah to get it all done lol.  The second was at Made by Petchy and was an iPod Nano tutorial. She also has some awesome stuff on her blog, and her photo’s are so great.  I did look at several other tutorials, but these were the two main ones I used.

Okay, time to go make some supper (or dinner depending on where you live) for my hungry hoarde (can two be a hoarde?????).  Yes, I added an “e” to hoard, which I think makes it look so much better, plus scarier and more fantasy bookish somehow……maybe I think that because I’ve been writing some for my book that I’m writing for my daughter. Who knows, it could be just because I’m a Tennessee Hillbillie!

Have a great day and  happy crafting!

Sherry

: Sewing & Quilting
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RSS Aggravation!

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I am using a new Feedreeder, FeedDemon, and have been re-adding my blog feeds that I like to read. I decided on a whim to add mine.  There is something wrong with the RSS feed, but I could get it to work with Atom.  I have been looking online to see how to fix it. It is too complicated for a 40-something Hillbilly like me. My youngest DD, who is quite computer literate, tried to make the supposed fix for this work, but to no avail (and she didn’t say even one bad word even though she wanted to lol).  So if you want to subscribe to my blog, you will have to do it with Atom until this thing is fixed. Apparently quite a few other bloggers who use WordPress have this same issue. I have an independent host, but use WordPress to blog.

Hopefully this issue will be fixed soon, or someone will come up with a really, really so-easy-my-cat-could-do-it way to fix this issue.  In the meantime,

Happy Crafting!

Sherry

: Random Stuff
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Happy New Year!

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Wow, it’s 2010 already.  Where did the time go?  It seems like it was yesterday that my first child was delivered by emergency cesarean –wait, that was 23 years and some odd months ago.  Sheesh, the time sure does fly when your busy with life and not paying attention!  I sure hope this year goes a little better than last year.  My DH was one of the many to lose his job, so we had to make some changes.  Some were good, some maybe not so good. We will have to see how it all works out in the end.

I’ve already finished a couple of projects for 2010.  The first is a little crochet sweater for my DD’s dog, Kenley.  The picture doesn’t do the color justice. It looks red, but it is actually a deep burgundy.   We’ll see I guess. The pattern I used was one I found on Ravelry called Candy Corn Pet Sweater; her website is DIY Maven. I modified it to have buttons instead of being a “pullover”. I don’t think Kenley would wear it all the time, but only when she goes out and it’s really cold. I will have Rae get a picture of her with it on — if she’ll wear it lol. The project pages on Ravelry show how some have made this for their cats and dogs. My big boy, Smokey, let me try it on him, but his brother Baby said “No way!” and took off lol!

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The other thing I finished was a Jayne Cobb hat (knit using this pattern), although in black and pink.  I made a scarf  (Tunisian crochet) to go with it (no pattern–I made it up as I went). They are for Rae’s friend Dee. I hope she likes them.

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I sent a round ripple baby afghan I made last year using this pattern in pink and white yarn to Rae’s boyfriend’s sister for her new baby girl. They have two boys, so I imagine they are a little excited about having a girl.  Her name is Molly–very cute name, one of my favorites. I will have to look to see if I have a photo of the afghan. I may not have taken one since I was making some for donation. I hope I did. It was one of my favorite color/yarn combination’s.

I am also working on an exchange that I mailed to India in late October or early November that was never received. I am remaking the item that I put in there, plus a few little extras. I feel bad that it got lost somewhere. This time I’m going to put it in a super envelope or small box.

I hope everyone’s year is getting off to a good start. We are doing what we’ve always done–keep on going even when it’s like walking in quicksand!

Take care & Happy Crafting!

Sherry

: Crochet Projects,Knit Projects
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Last Minute Christmas Gifts

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Well, I had to make a few last minute Christmas gifts and these were some of them. I made my oldest daughter Rachel a fuzzy pink ornament, which she loved. BUT she wanted to know if I could add eyes and a ribbon. I said okay, and here is what I came up with. The first one is Rachel’s, the second Kaitlin’s, and the last one was for my sister Sara.

These were really easy and a lot of fun to do.  I used old glass ball ornaments that weren’t too pretty anymore. I made a chain of 3 st, then turned and double crocheted 6 times in first stitch, joined with slip stitch NOTE: You should place a marker or use a scrap of yarn to mark the  first stitch since it is very difficult to see the stitches with this yarn. For the next row, ch 2 (does not count as stitch), 2 dc in each stitch around, join. Next row: ch2, *2 dc in first st, 1 dc in next*, rep around, join.  Depending on the size of your ornament, you can repeat the last round once. The blue ornament above was larger, so I made the last row twice.  Then I inserted the ornament and ch 2, then 1 dc in first couple of stitches, the dc 2 together to decrease around. I just spaced the decreases evenly. If you need to you can do this for two rows depending on your ornament size. I stopped just short of the top. Fasten yarn off, leaving about a 6″ tail. I wove the tail through the stitches all the way around and used this to draw the cover closed. Tie off yarn securely and weave in end.  I hot glued the wiggly eyes on, then attached the flowers and a ribbon through the metal loop on top, then attached the hook for hanging. You could also use yarn/thread/twine, etc. for the hanging loop. Voila, a fuzzy faced ornament.

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The other last minute item I made was a hanger cover. I got the hangers at the Dollar Tree, 4 for $1.00.  I used scarp yarn–what self-respecting fiber artist doesn’t have a batch of yarn balls around lol???  There are many patterns available for these, but I needed something quick so I just made it as simple as possible–love that KISS rule (keep it simple sherry-modified for me but the stupid would work just as well some days LOL).  I used worsted weight yarn, although on some I used a bulky yarn and just adjusted my chain length accordingly.  I don’t remember how many I used since those were the first ones I made back in October for my youngest sisters birthday. For the worsted, I made a chain of about 110 stitches, and beginning in the 2nd ch from hook, turned and double crocheted in the first 8 (my hangers had a slightly wider area under the hook so these accommodated that), then hdc to last 8 st, dc in last 8. ch 2, turn (do not count as a stitch), dc in first 8 st, hdc to last 8, dc last 8.  Fasten off but leave an end long enough for sewing the hanger closed. I made it 1.5 times  the length of my hanger. You can use any method for sewing you want; place hanger in center of strip, fold up and sew closed. I moved the seam to the inside of the hanger since I liked how that looked better. When I got to the end, I sewed each end of the strip together, tied it off and wove the end in. I made a matching bow and tied it at the base of the hanger. You can do whatever you want to decorate. If you do not want to sew it closed, you can also single crochet or slip stitch it closed, then sew the ends together and fasten off. If your hanger has those little hooks for skinny straps, then just adjust your strip while sewing closed to accommodate them and sew together on each side. Here are images of 6 of the ones I made. I will post some links to other patterns as well. There are some really neat ones out there.

For those wooden hangers that are just one piece:

http://makeityourown.wordpress.com/free-patterns/ (scroll down)

http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/crochet-clothes-hanger-cover.html

http://crochet4you1.tripod.com/pattern130.htm

For contoured hangers:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~lindaohdsl/CoatHang.html

These completely cover the hangers:

http://crochetjessica.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/hanger-cover/

http://www.sugarncream.com/pattern.php?PID=4321

http://members.optusnet.com.au/we2/hangercover.html

Very cute nursery hanger covers:

http://www.crochetsoiree.com/patterns/view/238-nursery-hangers/

These are only a small example of the many free patterns you can find on the web. There are many great designers out there who make their work available to other fiber artists, so lets respect their copyright and don’t claim their work as our own. For my hanger cover, I looked at a lot of covers and if I had more time I would’ve done something fancier. I just need something quick and simple and came up with idea. That’s part of the fun of working with with your hands–if you have an idea you can create all kinds of neat things.

Happy crafting!

Sherry

: Crochet Projects
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Snow!

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We have our first snow back home in Tennessee!  This little dusting happened on December 5, 2009.  We had to laugh, though.  We are used to LOTS of snow in Indiana, and this little dusting wasn’t worth noticing that much, but people here freak out over the least little snow.

This was melted by lunch.  Here is a photo of snow from when we still lived in Indiana.  This is what we are used to! Underneath all that snow was several inches of ice–which I don’t like driving on but life doesn’t stop just cause you got snow!  We had more before it was over.

: Random Stuff

Shawler

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A few years ago I made my girls a poncho each. My oldest daughter wore a hole in hers and my youngest daughter is still using hers.  She wears it while sitting at her computer. It is starting to look a little rough and I started looking around for a new pattern to make.  She wears her poncho flat and like a shawl so I started looking at shawls.  I found a pattern on Ravelry that we really liked and bought it from Shelleden’s shop on Etsy. As of this post it is sold out (how do you sell out of a PDF?????) but I found it to be a decent pattern. I made some modifications to make it easier and changed the cuffs to make them easier to do.  I have several family members requesting them as gifts for Christmas. I can make one in a couple of days if I only focus on that item. I’ve made two, the first for Kait and the second as a Secret Santa gift. I apologize for the headless model–my DH took the photo’s and he is not a photographer!

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The pattern calls for chunky yarn but I used a single strand of worsted weight since both of these items will be worn indoors only. The gift shawler is going to a young man who is wheelchair bound and he would like it to wear when he’s watching TV or a movie.  I am happy to make it for him. My sister wants one made from chunky yarn so I told her she had to buy the yarn since I currently don’t have any chunky yarn in my stash.

Gotta go work on another Secret Santa exchange item that is going in the mail Monday or Tuesday.  Have a great day!

Happy Crafting!

Sherry

: Crochet Projects
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Christmas Crochet

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I have been making some Christmas ornaments and here are a few that I have finished.  The icicle doesn’t show up that well in the photo, which is annoying. The yarn has a sparkly thread through it that reflects the light.  I will put the links to the patterns that I used to make these.  I bought the glass balls at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore here in my county for $1.50 for two boxes. As for the icicle, I will write up how I did that at the end of this post.

The teal blue pattern is one I got from Ravelry as a free download. It is only available on Ravelry. The white one with beads, the gold and the red/white/green are made using the same pattern but I eliminated the picot round and continued making loops and single crochet.  The red ornament was made using  the Faux Picot Ball Cover by Cylinda Mathews.

The Icicle was very simple to do. If you’ve ever done crochet where you made a curly piece (like those dolls with curly arms and legs) then you can do this icicle.  You can make it as long or short as you want by making your chain longer.

Icicle

Using your choice of yarn and hook, chain 30. Single crochet twice in second chain from hook (I go through the “hump” on the back–it gives it a nicer edge). Single crochet twice in each chain to end. Fasten off and weave yarn end. Attach hook or make a loop of yarn for hanging. Voila! You’ve made an easy to remove icicle for your tree. I thought about attaching a clear bead on the tips of my icicles but I can’t find the darn beads.  Moving is a pain in the tushy!!! I have things for crafting but can’t find the darn things without a major search. I may add them later when I finally locate them.

Have a great day & happy crafting!

Sherry

: Crochet Projects
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Falling down the stairs….again

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This is what happens when you fall down the stairs for the fourth time in six months, only this time you hit the wall at the bottom. My husband has forbidden me to come down the stairs in bare feet or slippers since every time I’ve fallen that’s what I’ve been wearing (or not).  I listened for a day or two but it is too cold to go without slippers, and unlike his silly Northern butt, I am a hillbilly and I don’t wear shoes in the house!

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Speaking of hubby, this is what he’s been doing all summer and stocking up our freezer with fresh fish.  He’s slowed down a bit since it’s cold and he doesn’t like being cold. He loves the snow, but he hates being cold. Go figure!.

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and speaking of snow, this is our first official snow fall in my hometown. I’m glad to be back home, but I have to laugh. This snow was melted by noon, and it was only about an inch on the ground, but people here freak out. When we lived in Indiana, an inch of snow wasn’t even noticed by us.  When I was a kid (a long time ago) we had snow here in Tennessee that was awesome!  But now we hardly get any at all. I guess as an adult who has to drive in it, that’s okay, but as a kid who loved missing school because of snow, it was fantastic!.

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Gotta go do some crafting! Have a great day.

Sherry

: Random Stuff
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