July 4th Decorating

Yes, I know, I'm a little late with this post!  Oh well :)

Thought I would share my 4th of July decorations that I made this year. I started with a rag wreath for our front door:

I then made this banner out of burlap and paint:

I decided to freshen up our pillows on our back porch that sit on our gliders and made some pillow covers out of drop cloths and paint:

I used drop cloths and some scrap fabric to make this table runner for our dining room table:

And finally, I crocheted this cute bunting:

The pattern for it can be found on Ravelry - it is the Patriotic Bunting by Doni Speigle.

Hope everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday. We had quite a bit of rain, and the cooler temperatures were such a relief from our normal summer heat!

Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY  - you have until midnight tonight to enter.

Finally... A Giveway!

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get around to this giveaway. This is to celebrate my blog reaching 100 followers. Here is what you will win:

You can click on the picture to get a closer look. There is a package of crochet labels, a set of Susan Bates Steel Yarn Needles (great for weaving in those pesky ends!), a Susan Bates Bamboo Handle Crochet Hook Size H, and a beautiful bracelet handmade by me!  Here is a closer look at the bracelet:

If you have seen any of my giveaways before, you know that I will also include some extra stuff that will be a surprise!

This will be the easiest giveaway yet to enter  ... all you need to do is:

• Be a follower of my blog
• Leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite color is

That's it! Told ya it was easy!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (so sorry, but shipping costs have gotten outrageous).

The giveaway will be open until midnight Mountain Standard Time on Friday, July 6, 2012.  I will put all of the names of the people who leave a comment on this post in a hat and draw a winner.

Good luck everyone!

So Adorable!

I came across this picture the other day and just had to check it out:

Aren't these the most adorable little baby sandals ever??? I just love them!

Naomi over at Lovely Little Life kindly allowed me to share her picture. She has the free pattern posted for these on her website. It can be found here.

Naomi is in the UK, so she used an aran weight cotton yarn. I have no idea if that is similar to the cotton yarn we get here in the States or not. Does anybody out there know what that is, or what a similar equivalent yarn would be?

Thank you Naomi for letting me share your picture (and pattern)!  I can't wait to make these :)

Thank You for the Awards but...

I have decided that from now on, my blog will be an Award Free Blog.

Much as I appreciate the award, I feel there are so many wonderful blogs out there that we are ALL winners!  A kind comment telling me you enjoy my blog or a particular post is good enough for me :)  Thank you for understanding.

Granny Love

Isn't this pillow gorgeous:

It is from the blog Wisecraft. You can find a great tutorial (with photos!) here.  Many thanks to Blair for kindly allowing me to post her photo :)

This is definitely going on my must-make list!

It's Friday ...... and Blog Share

Happy Friday all! I want to welcome all my new followers - I am up to 102 now... yay! I have not forgotten about my promise of a giveaway - I am just still trying to figure out how I'm going to do it and what to giveaway. Any ideas??

Did you notice my blog makeover? I was tired of the old one, so time for something new. I got my design free from Blog Designs by Dani (her button is on the right hand side). She has some really cute ones, so I may be changing it up more often. I also gave my sewing blog a much-needed re-do. If you're new here, I have a sewing/crafting blog called Sandy Sewz where I post my sewing, quilting and crafting projects. I rarely use traditional sewing patterns - I rely strictly on tutorials that I find on the internet. Please come check me out if you are interested in sewing or quilting.

I have come across several new-to-me blogs lately and I wanted to share them with you all, in case you haven't found them yet.

Check out this cute crochet project:

and this one:

They are both made by Sarah at Repeat Crafter Me. I love her blog because not only does she post great crochet projects, but she also has crockpot recipes. I made her Creamy Crockpot Salsa Chicken last week and Mr. S. loved it!  Oh, and I am saving all my plastic grocery bags so I can make this plarn tote bag that she showed how to make:

You should definitely go browse around her blog, you will love it!

I am also really loving Casey's blog, called Plus 3 Crochet. You can find it here.  She has only been crocheting for two years, but you would not know that from her work (plus she taught herself how to crochet, how cool is that??)

She is currently participating in a Granny Square Afghan CAL (which I am seriously considering joining) and I love the yarn and colors she is using:

In case you were wondering, like I was, she is using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton to make her squares.

I am so going to make me some of these:

They are chair socks! I love this idea, and wish I would have known about them when we lived in our previous house that had bamboo floors!

 And look at this adorable pillow that Casey made:

It's called the Grandma Love Cushion, and what's not to love about it? The colors, the shape, everything is so pretty!

I think Casey has a real knack for putting colors together - just check out this round ripple she did:

and this one:

Both of them are fabulous!


Thanks to both of you ladies for your inspiring blogs :)

Have a great weekend all!

Happiness

Or, in my case, yarn AND fabric!