My Ta-Da Moment

 i don't usually use the phrase ta-da moment when referring to a finished project. Lucy, from Attic 24 uses that phrase for her finished crochet projects. Since that is exactly what this is, ant the pattern is hers, I felt it was appropriate. I have finally finished my Flora Granny Square blanket!

I started this project as a way to keep busy creatively during our move. I knew that any kind of hand work was the answer. After several false starts with using up leftover yarn from other projects, I landed on this one. I made the first squares in late August 2021.

Each granny square was made by choosing the colors for that one, then making it before moving on to the next one. I wanted to focus on, and enjoy each beautiful flower.

When I started the process, I had no idea how many I would make or what they would become.

Once I had about a dozen of them, I decided that my goal would be to make 100 of them and join them in 10x10 rows. I also decided to give each one another row of a neutral color yarn to bring them all together.

That worked really well. It calms things down a bit and you can see the individual blocks and colors. My original thought was to lay the whole thing out into an arrangement so the colors didn't bunch up, but in the end, I decided to just go rogue.

I grabbed whatever square was on top of the stack and just joined them up. And I find that I really don't care about the placement so much after all.

Lucy also has a great tutorial for Joining Granny Squares. I used that for putting it all together.

And since I got my second shingles vaccine yesterday and am feeling pretty puny, I used this happy little blanket to cover me up while I napped. So nice and just the right size too.

Hard to believe that just a couple of weeks ago they looked like this! So happy to have this project finished. Just one more hand project to go from before the move, and that is my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. The flowers are done, but now I have to make all the hexies it will take to join them together. Maybe when I feel better, but not today. 

Talk to you soon.

Slow Crochet Project

Still trying to get several hand done projects going that will carry me through my move. I do like having a variety of things to work on, as the spirit moves me. So I have a new crochet project that costs me nothing but time.

I have crocheted about 8-9 blankets from Attic 24 kits and tutorials. I love them all. But there is leftover yarn from each of them. I tried to think of a way to use it up, just like my scraps of fabric go into quilts.

 My first thought was to crochet in Double crochet stitches, alternating between cool and warm colors and letting each stripe be however big it was based on how much yarn was in the ball.

I had divided all my leftover yarn balls into two bags. One is warm colors and one is cool colors. But once I got some of it crocheted, I wasn't happy with how it looked. I mean I really didn't like it.

So then, I ripped it all out and started again. I thought Granny Squares. It was what I originally wanted to do, but I had though they might be too much work. My daughter suggested warm centers and cool borders. I made one. It was okay.

Then I made another one. It was just okay. I like the colors, but this was not bringing me joy. I could not make a bunch of these for a blanket. Back to the drawing board. Lucy (Attic 24) had done a pattern for a floral Granny Square for International Granny Square Day! (Who knew there was such a thing?) So I went to her blog to take another look at it and I took my yarn with me.

This is the first square I made. Now, don't laugh. I know that this is much more complicated than the simple project I originally envisioned. But, it brings me joy! And the one thing I know about myself is that when I eventually cave and try the more complex project, I fall in love with it. It has happened with paper piecing and EPP projects as well. I do a lot more of those than I ever thought I would. I just need to remember that when I am looking for a project. Simple isn't always best.

And now I have a stack of them! I don't know how many I can make before I run out of scrap yarn, but I do know that I am going to keep making them as long as they bring me joy. That is the point of being a maker if you ask me.

What's bringing you joy today?

Sunday Cloudy Sunday

 Woke up to grey, cloudy skies this morning. I don't really mind. It doesn't mean rain, living here in southern California. We are in a drought right now. That is one of the hardest things to get used to here, is the lack of rain. Back home, a cloudy day was usually the precursor to rain. Not so here.

These beauties are blooming in the back yard on the patio. These pictures were taken on a sunny day.

When fully open, they are as large as my open hand. And if you don't cut them to bring inside, the blooms last for days.

Even this sweet little cactus plant is blooming right now. Spring is spring, no matter where you are. It's just different here than what I am used to.

The Meadow CAL is pretty much done. Now I have to work the 6 rounds of the border. I am currently on round number 4.

This is the tomato embroidery I did for my daughter from the garden embroidery book. I had been doing these with an eye towards her framing them, but now, we are considering making a quilt out of them. It will be awhile before all of the one I want to do get done, though.

Another picture of the Meadow blanket. The picture really doesn't do the colors justice. They are just so pretty.

And here are my tiny houses through yesterday. Only 4 more to go. I am starting to auditing sashing fabrics for this. I am quite excited to get it all put together. Soon, I will be able to show it to you.

Have a lovely Sunday friends.

Sew It's Sunday

 I sew a bit every day. I still have not gained back my momentum for hours of sewing daily, but I chose the tiny houw project just to keep my hand in the game and it seems to be working.

This beauty is finally pin basted and ready to be quilted. And I have a quilting plan for it as well, so yay! I am waiting until I finish the tiny houses to start quilting it. I don't want to have to reset the machine every day, as I know that will put a wrench in my daily sewing.

This quilt top is also finished and the back is made. I don't have enough pins to pin baste it too, so I will wait until a bunch are out of the penny sampler to do the pin basting. I think I finally have a quilting plan that I like for this one. I doodled around on paper to come up with one.

And then there is this beauty. This is the Meadow Blanket CAL with Lucy of Attic 24. I am just starting on the borders for this and the colors are divine. I like crochet because I can do it anywhere and I can watch TV while doing it. Lucy's blankets are all just lovely.

Well, now I'm off to make tiny house number 90. This project is winding down. Can't wait to show you the whole thing. Have a lovely Sunday friends.

Here I Am

 I know it has been a whole month since I have been here, but I have really not felt like working on any quilting projects. I still mostly don't. I have been working on my tiny house project.

When I started losing interest in quilting, I wasn't worried. My mojo will return eventually, I know. It has happened before. That was when I started the tiny house project. 100 houses in 100 days. No pressure at all. It takes me 15-20 minutes to make one each day. I am using only scraps and I don't think about what to do ahead of time. I select scraps, press, sew and done.

On inauguration day, I made two houses, because my daughter suggested I make a "white house" and I had already selected patriotic fabric scraps. I have already figured out where to work this in to the final quilt.

Other than this, I have been doing some embroidery and crocheting. I am doing the Meadow Blanket CAL with Lucy of Attic 24.

And I am embroidering some veggies for my daughter who has taken up gardening in a big way in the last year. I do have two quilt tops made and I did finally make the backs so when my mojo returns, I will be ready to quilt them.

Stay safe and I hope to see you here again soon.

A Couple of Things

 So even though I don't post much, I am always working on something here. I need to keep my hands and my brain busy. Otherwise I would go crazy. So here are a couple of things I am working on.

Remember this? It is the Scrap Happy Rails quilt from Amanda Jean's book No Scrap Left Behind. This was the day that I pin basted it.

And now it is all quilted. And on my bed. I need to take it off the bed and get a proper bunch of pictures to share. Maybe this weekend when my hubby is home. I had a plan of how I wanted to quilt this, but with the small throat of my Bernina, I couldn't make it work. So I had to change the plan. I started with all over swirls, but after a short bit, I began including some hearts instead of all loops. Then I wrote the word Love as a secret message. I ended up doing this randomly through out. I love it so much and the crinkly texture hides the secret messages.

This is a ripple blanket I am crocheting for my youngest grandson. Blogger decided to put it here in the middle of this post and I can't figure out how to move it, so here it is. Crocheting is one of the things I do to keep my hands busy.

Meanwhile, back at the quilt...I did get a couple of pictures while I was doing the actual quilting so I can share those.

This is an absolutely great quilt and a good size. I love all the quilts in Amanda Jean's book and I know there will be more in my sewing future. I promise to get some better pics and come back to share them soon.  Have a great week.

A Couple of Things

 I've been working on a couple of things I'd like to share here. In my last post, I shared my latest crocheted blanket. Now I am making one for my youngest grandson, B. His favorite color used to be orange, but now it seems he likes yellows and golds as well. So this is the yarn selection. I am crocheting a ripple pattern from Lucy at Attic 24.

I think I posted that I was painting rocks during the pandemic. This is one of my latest rocks. I do lots of little pictures on rocks which I put positive messages on the back and we put them in a basket out front for neighbors to take. I believe we have done a few hundred rocks since we started.

On the sewing front, I was finally able to move ahead on the Penny Sampler Quilt. I am doing the Dutch version since I have already done the Nordic version a couple of years ago when Rachel offered it.

My quilt is all blues, pinks and a bit of red. So this is my tree. It was so fun to choose the fabrics for this block. I pulled all my fabrics back in the beginning, so I just go through the bin they are in for each new block assignment. We are in the home stretch with this year long project.

This is my faceted diamond block. I forgot to re-orient it. It will go longways on the quilt. The third block for September is the windmill, which I haven't downloaded to my computer yet, so I will do that soon so I can document that here. I am so excited to get this quilt put together. I have really been enjoying the monthly assignments.

So have a great weekend and stay safe and well. I will see you soon.

Crochet!

 So, in addition to sewing I also love to crochet. I have been crocheting blankets for the last 3 years, along with Lucy at Attic 24. She has so many lovely patterns and she is really good at explaining the techniques. She shows pictures of how things should look, which is so helpful. And her patterns are free!

This is one of her patterns I just finished, in my own chosen colors. This blanket is to be a Christmas gift for Miss N. Her favorite colors are pink and purple.

This is the Cosy Stripe Blanket. It is all double crochet, except for parts of the border. This is a picture of the final row of the border which give such a pretty little finish here.

Every two rows alternate between a plain double crochet and one with three stitches done in one spot skipping stitches on each side to give this unique look. I alternated between pink and purple on each row.

I started out using up bits of leftover yarns from other projects, but then I soon realized I didn't have enough of either pink or purple to complete this. So I found an on line source for the same yarn, here in the US.

I usually order all this blanket yarn from Wool Warehouse in the UK, but at the time, they weren't shipping to the US because of Covid.

I am very happy with the way this blanket turned out. These pictures are on my queen size bed, so this is a sizeable blanket. My daughter requested it be big enough so she could use it as she grew up.

And here is the little wooden button I put on all my crochet blankets. I found these on Etsy. There are many vendors on Etsy that sell something like this if you are interested in finding some for yourself. I hope you have a great rest of your week, and I will see you soon.