Craft Day

The Girls' Craft Day was so much fun.... at least, I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! There were eight of us in total, and I think we spent more time eating, laughing and talking rather than crafting (but that's okay too!) On the menu was Pammy's taco soup:

It was yummy, as always. For dessert there was pumpkin pie and brownies (sorry, no photos of those!)

Everyone loved their gift bags, which included their kitchen towel rings made to match their kitchen colors and assorted Easter chocolates:

Here's some of what we did:

Sorry for the blurry photo, still trying to get used to my new camera. This will definitely be something I plan on doing again (thanks Karin for the inspiration!) Hope everyone is having a very Happy Monday.

Check List...

1.  House cleaned - check
2. Pammy's Taco Soup in the Crock Pot - check
3. Sun Tea brewin' outside - check
4. Brownies made - check
5. Gift Bags made - check

Think I'm all ready for my Girls' Craft Day.. I'm so excited, and can't wait for everyone to get here. Will share photos with all of you tomorrow. Wish you could join me, it would be so much fun if all of us bloggers could get together, wouldn't it? Have a very happy Sunday :)

This 'n That

Today's post will be a mix of things, hope you don't mind. Here is another towel ring:

The colors remind me of Easter. I'm thinking this might go to someone special.

Here is a baby bib I made up the other day, just to try it:

You can find the pattern here.  Love how the yarn made that neat pattern in it.

The next few pics are for Doris:

Hope that helps some Doris! And here are the squares for SIBOL, finally finished. I  made this solid yellow one:

I found it at the website allcrafts.net and the square is called "Tilted Square." Here are all four of them:

Okay, I think you're all caught up now! I am so excited about my Girls' Craft Day on Sunday. I started cleaning the house yesterday and am finishing up today, then need to finish all my little towel ring gifts for the girls. You know I will be taking pictures of the festivities and sharing them with you next week. Happy Friday all.

All Better ... and a New Project

I went and purchased a new camera today (and got a smokin' deal on it too!) so I'm back. I think the photo quality is way better than my other one (and it cost less... go figure) so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Anywho, remember the 2" plastic rings I showed you yesterday? Here is what I made with them:

I'm sure that right about now you are wondering what the heck these are, aren't you?? They are kitchen towel rings:

You loop them over your oven door, then put your kitchen towel through the ring part at the bottom! They take no time at all to make, and are so useful. I found the pattern on Ravelry, it is just called "Basic Towel Ring." The pattern says to make a loop of yarn around your hand to make the part for the hole, but I tried that and it is not very sturdy. That's when the plastic ring idea hit me. If you don't have plastic rings on hand, maybe try an elastic hair band instead.

I am having some friends over this Sunday for a Girls' Craft Day (we'll just hang out and do crafts together) so thought I would make one of these for each of my guests. I used Sugar N Cream for the blue/purple one, Peaches & Creme for the multi-colored one, and Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton for the beige one. Once again, I love their yarn... the cotton is sooooo soft and just glides through your fingers as you work. I've got a few more of these to make, but wanted to share the pattern with ya'll in case any of you wanted a quick project.

I've finished my sunny squares for Sue as well, so I'll probably post pics of them tomorrow so I can get them in the mail. That's it for now... hope to see you tomorrow!

Rut Roh

I was going to post my project with the little plastic rings I showed you the other day. But this morning, as I went to take a picture of one of the cats in his cute little pose, I tripped. The camera went flying and yep, you guessed it... no more camera. I doubt it can be repaired, so off I go to buy a new one. Thank goodness I have a very understanding hubby, who just said "what did you do now, butterfingers??"  LOL  Will post the project later today... stay tuned!

Weekend Trip - Part 2

I had such a nice weekend with my sister. After going to the olive mill, we of course had to do some shopping, and where else would I want to go but Hobby Lobby, my new favorite store! Here is some of what I got:

Think I will use this when I work on the 12" squares for Beverooni. The clerk there made my day when she said she thought they might be opening a store here in my town... Woo Hoo!!!!! I also got some of these:

I found a neat, fast, easy new project that I'm going to use these for which I will share with you later in the week. As promised, here is a picture of yours truly:

What a lovely weekend. I always enjoy spending time with my baby sister. That's all for now, hope you have a great day  :)

Weekend Trip - Part 1

I spent a very nice weekend with my sister, who lives a couple of hours away from me in the big city. We toured an olive mill, where they have olive groves and make their own olive oil on site. It was a lot of fun, here are some pics:

The above photos are of some of the equipment they use to extract the olive oil from the olives. It was interesting to learn about the process, and to discover that they only have a two month harvesting time (Oct. thru Dec). Here is a photo of our tour guide, Chris:

He was very funny and informative.

This photo shows some of the processes involved. Since they don't use any pesticides, all they have to do is rinse the olives before putting them into the machines to extract the oil. While we were there, we of course had to purchase some of their products:

I bought some of their olive oil, as well as a couple of jars of olives (one is olives stuffed with feta cheese, yum!) The bottle on the left is Meyer Lemon olive oil that you use for baking. That's right, I said baking! We tried one of their Meyer Lemon cupcakes and it was to die for. I had to purchase some:

I'm going to try to make these, as they were the most moist and delicious cupcakes I have ever had.

Then I spotted these in their gift shop:

Aren't they cute? They are called oven door dresses, and are like the dish towel toppers only they made them into a little dress. I tried to find a free pattern on line last night with no luck. If any of you have a pattern for this, I would love to get it.

I have more to show you, but will save some for tomorrow, including a picture of yours truly! Have a happy Monday.

Much Better

With some help from Pammy on how to block (thanks so much Pammy) I was able to make my squares from yesterday a little bit smaller. Sue was nice enough to leave me a comment to say that she is taking the squares she gets, no matter what size, and making them work, so that made me feel better. 

I tried a new square this morning:

And look, it measures 6 inches:

I love this one, I think it really looks like a sun in the middle! It is Square 6 from this book, which I have been meaning to tell you about:

This is the book I got at Jo-Ann's a couple of weeks ago. There are some really pretty squares in here (I love the peach one on the cover!). Square 6 calls for an H hook and says it should measure 5 inches, but I used an H hook and it came out to 6 inches, so I don't know what it is about me and squares! Guess I will definitely have to go down at least one hook size if I want them to measure what the pattern says. I will post some more photos from the book later so you can see some of the other designs.

In case I don't get a chance to post anymore this weekend, I hope all of you are enjoying nice weather wherever you are, and that you have a very happy weekend.

Help Wanted!

I have been wanting to make up some squares for the SIBOL project for awhile now. I was so happy when the sunny squares idea came up, as bright sunny colors like yellow and orange are my favorites. Here are my first two attempts:

I was happy with them until I started measuring and found out that they were a bit over 6 inches at their widest point:

This is where I need your help.... is this normal? I did go back and measure them at the top and the bottom and they are 6 inches exactly there. The problem is they are just a bit wider in the middle. I've not made many squares, so I'm not sure if this is typical or not. I don't want to send Sue some squares that she won't be able to use. Any help or advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

It's the wearin' o' the green today, so to all of my blogger friends:

Have a fabulous day!

Nice Weekend

A little bit of Spring Training Baseball....

A little bit of crocheting...

My charity pile has grown quite large...

I think I will do a couple more blankets this week (this time preemie size) then deliver them to the hospital.

Hope you had a nice weekend also :)

I Have a Button!!!

Check out my beautiful new button!!! Thanks to Pammy Sue over at Scotty's Place I now have a button for my blog. I've been wanting one since I started this blog, but didn't have the faintest idea how to go about making one. Pammy (and her hubby) kindly helped me out, and I absolutely love the result. If you feel so inclined, feel free to copy it onto your blog. Thanks again Pammy... you rock!!! :)

On the Wings of an Angel

I found this pattern a few months ago. It was the first time I had ever tried making anything like it, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do. I just finished another one last night:

This is for my sister's new granddaughter, Margaret Rose. I will include the purple hat that I made the other day to go with it:

I will also add a onesie for her to wear underneath it. The yarn I used is Caron Simply Soft; color is Baby Brights Ombre. This is fast becoming my new favorite yarn; it is reasonably priced (especially if you can find it at Wal-mart) and really lives up to its name, as it is very soft. It also comes in a wide range of colors. If you've never used it before, I urge you to try it... you'll like it!

Three More Baby Hats

I finished three more baby hats today:

As I looked through what I had made, I realized I had more hats for baby girls than for boys. I must admit it is so much fun to add the flowers and ribbons to the girls' hats! So I left the red and yellow hats plain, with no decoration.
I also started working on a blue one (forgot to take a pic of it) that is a different pattern than what I have made. All of the hats I have made so far start at the top of the hat and are made in the round; the blue one I started is made from side to side, so it will be interesting to see how that turns out.  I also found a new book today while shopping at Jo-Anns... more on that later in the week.

Monday Monday

It's another rainy day here in the desert (two days in a row now); that makes for good crocheting! Here are a few FO's since I last posted:

I was inspired by Ghost's blog to make one of these for my Mom:

And another inspiration was Molly with her spiral scrubbies. I tried it, but it came out really strange looking, so I frogged it and will try it again another time! I found another tawashi pattern and here are those:

 

I will work on more baby hats and blankets today, as I think I will drop off my donation to the hospital later in the week. Hope you have a very happy Monday :)