I finally finished the Pinwheel quilt *woohoo* I’ve been working on it for just over 2 years. It is a single bed size for my daughter but before I could get it finished we moved her up to a double bed hahaha. It still fits it just doesn’t hang off the sides.

This is a photo of it on my queen sized bed.

Now I only have one more big Afghan to work on and a smaller quilt. Still working on my Learning to knit squares and it’s starting to come a little easier to me now. I even am knitting a few neckwarmers to use as Christmas gifts and use up some yarn in my stash.

Wow April and May are just a blur and June is almost done EEk where does the time go?

I haven’t finished much in these last 3 months. In May I did finish the Gingerbread doily finally though I haven’t put any of the ribbons and such on it yet. I may just leave it plain we’ll see.

I’m still ploding along on my Learn to knit squares. I’m now working on #9 If you really want to see my squares (they aren’t very interesting) you can go here. It’s the blog from the sky CAL ladies who are doing this together.

I’ve finally gotten another lapghan done for the Nursing home this month. I’m going so slow on this this year but I am getting lots of squares to put together from doing the 99 squares with the sky ladies.

This is the Kaleidoscope. I only made it lapghan size and the pattern didn’t have full instructions for the half motif so I just left them off this time.

 
And I got tired of working on this tunisian squares. I got 6 of them done and it’s just the right size to put over my shoulders this winter.

I finally finished something. Everything I’ve started lately are long going projects.

We’ve done 13 of the 99 blocks so far. We do a different amount of each block depending on how many somebody picks that week so I’ve got a good amount of squares from that to put together a lapghan or 2 for the nursing home.

I’m on square 7 of the Learning to knit afghan. I’m still behind everybody else but plugging right along.

I had swore to myself that I wouldn’t start Knitting as I have too much Crochet to do. 

It all started when I saw a bunch of knitting needles on clearanc at Hobby Lobby and thought “Oh I’ll just buy them and hold onto them, maybe one day I’ll knit, though probably not. “

Then my friends on the Sky CAL at Crochetville all decided to start the “Learn to Knit”  by Barbara G. Walker and they were sooooo pretty. I held off for over a month but finally gave in and borrowed the book from the library to see if I could really do it.

Now I’ve renewed my library book for another 3 weeks and am almost halfway through the 3rd square. “sigh”

I’ve got to do a lot of work to get good at it yet but here are the first 2 squares from the book.

Square 1

Striped Garter stitch

Square 2

Striped Stockinette stitch

I finally got the last of the charity blitz squares bordered and joined for the nursing home.

This is the reds and pinks and they are great squares as always from the ladies at Crochetville!

This week was Dr. Seuss week at Kaila’s school.

Weds. was dress funny day so we fixed her hair up and put her clothes on inside out and backwards and put her shirt on over her dress. She loved her new doo and so did a lot of her classmates.

Friday was wear your favorite hat so I whipped up this funny pink fuzzy bear hat for her and later finished off the scarf. It is a very warm hat and scarf and of course winter temps are pretty much gone now but hopefully the hat will still fit her next year.

She’s luvin the hat. Dirty face and all! LOL

Well I’ve been busy working on 7 different projects at the same time trying to get some really old WIPS out of here to make way to make new stuff.

All I’ve got for this post is a boring list but I’m putting this here to give me a sense of accomplishment as I finish them and post the finished photos.

Oldest WIPS

• Pinwheel quilt 75% done. I was making this for my daughters single bed. Now she’s in a full size bed but I don’t think I’ll be able to expand it to that. I may expand it with solid squares or just leave it as a big afghan.
• Tunisian blocks afghan. 66% done. Well this was kind of disappointing. It started as a CAL on Ravelry everybody in it was going to make a block a month using different Tunisian stitches and at the end of the year you would have an afghan. Well by the third month everybody dropped off and I was the only one still working so I made 3 more on my own and have decided that I will just add a tks between the 2 rows of blocks that I’ve done to finish it off.
• Double Wedding Ring quilt. 5% done. I started this in June 08 and was thinking it would be for my queen sized bed but now it’s going to end up on my daughters bed.
• Gingerbread People Doily. 75% done. I intended this to be for the cookies plate for Santa but didn’t quite make it. LOL Oh well there’s always next year. And it should be done in a few weeks.

New WIPS.

• Geo Shades quilt. 40% done. I’m really excited about this one. I came up with this design after seeing a quilt on the cover of a magazine like it. Since it’s hard to find 4 shades of 2 colors I went with 3 shades and also scaled down the pattern a bit. I will post the pattern on my crochet ramblings blog when I get the quilt finished.
• Diagonal Hues. 45% done. I really like this one. I made it for a stashbuster to use up the colors left over from the Cathedral windows I did last year.
• 99 Granny Squares to crochet. 0% done. I’m waiting on the book to get here. This is a thing a couple people in the sky CAL on Crochetville are doing and I got sucked in. I did think that this would be a good way to get some squares made for the nursing home lapghans I do so went ahead and got the book. I can’t wait to start.

On my To Do list.

• Pick of the litter quilt. This was a free pattern of the day from Annies Attic.
• Xmas Hearth Cuddle quilt. This is one I came up with after the Christmas holiday so I’ll do it later this year for next Christmas.
• Tweed pillow and rug. My Mom got a bunch of pattern books from a garage sale and when she sent them to me there was a post it on one page saying “I like this” Mom. Hahaha I think that’s a hint. Lol
• Small tree skirt. My daughter wants a small tree skirt for the tree that goes in her room at Christmas.
• Small tree topper angel. My daughter again wanted something for the top of her little tree and loved the angel I did this year for mine so I’m going to make her a small one for her tree.

Wow I better get busy. Hahahaha

No luckily not any babies due in THIS household LOL but I know 5 people all between Jan and May.  I whipped this blanket up for a co-worker of my husbands. His first baby is due around my daughters birthday.

I used the baby coordinates sweet stripes in the grape stripes colorway. I used the pattern on the bernat site for the green crochet blanket, it’s done on the diagonal.

I like it but don’t know that I’ll be making anymore anytime soon since it’s all single crochet. LOL

Now that my swap with my friends is over and my secret pal has gotten her package I can wrap up 2008 by showing the things I made her and some little things I missed when posting earlier this year.

These are the things I made my secret pal. Glad you liked everything!

The snowman.

and The doughnut pin cushion

I also made a couple snowflakes for her too but lost the photo of them. It sure was fun doing this swap. I can’t wait till the July one.

This is one of the little Rosary pouches I made. My MIL wanted a Rosary so instead of buying her one I decided to make her one. She loved it and we buried her with it when she died in November but she has inspired me to try to make them to sell and I found this little Rosary pouch that is really nice so I might make some of these to go with the Rosaries when I get myself organized and start getting them made.

I also decided that I was going to clean out my chennile so I started making things with it just willy nilly and made this hat for my daughter.

I also made up this little blanket that we use on our bed to cover our feet. It used up a good amount of the chennile.

as you can see the cat approves LOL!

I also made a couple scarves for my SIL and her husband for Christmas. That’s used up about half of my stash of chenile now to figure out how to use up the rest of it this year lol.

I got the last of the lapghans for the Nursing home done. I still have enough squares to make one more but that one will have to wait till next year.

This is my 4th spiral, I used Red Heart in this one.

and the mixed squares from the charity blitz ladies.

I’ve also been busy with many swap gifts for my snarksky secret pal. She’s gotten her box by now but I”ll have to wait to post the photos till after everybody has opened there packages.

I can show this cute little bookmark that I made for another lady on Crochetville for her birthday. I got this pattern from the free patterns on the ‘Ville here. These came out so cute. I may make somemore someday for gifts.

I’ll do a post soon with all the secret pal stuff I made.

This has been a very busy month. I’m just going to catch everything for the month up in one post.

First off my MIL passed away this month. She will be missed alot. She had battled Lupus for over 20 years and she finally was tired of fighting. She did have a real good few weeks at the end and went peacefully in her sleep.

I did manage to get a few things done this month.

I made this Ginny gingerbread girl doll from the December issue of Crochet World. I found many projects in here to make. I have also started the gingerbread doily pictured on the cover and later I’ll show the tree topper angel I made from this issue.

Of course now my DD wants one. hahaha I gave her to my Niece for Christmas. She just turns 2 on Dec. 13.

This is the tree topper angel from that same issue Crochet World. I still need to stiffen her and glue her halo on but I needed to get her on the tree so I’ll have to wait to do that. hahaha.

I also got 2 lapghans assembled from the Charity Blitz squares.

This one is all the purple squares.

And this one is with all the yellow squares.

I hope to get 2 more lapghans done then deliver them to the Nursing home in time for them to go as Christmas presents to some residents. I wish I had enough for everybody there but I’m only one person so I’ll just keep plugging along.

This ghan is totally addicting! Or maybe it just tricks you into by hypnotizing you :lol

I saw this ghan done by a lady on Crochetville and immediately went hunting for the book to make one too. Little did I know I was going to make so many of them :lol

I started with one for my Niece that is due in Feb. 2009. I needed a baby blanket idea and thought this would be a good one for a baby.

I used “I Love This Yarn” in Rose and White.

This one I made for my other Niece. (the sister of the baby she couldn’t be left out) I used “I Love This Yarn” in Peach and Ivory. While I was making it my Niece just stared at me working on it and smiled when I showed it to her so I decided that was the one for her. LOL.

I’m starting on my 3rd one already. I’ll post a photo of it when I finish it.

This is a real easy pattern and they work up so fast. I’m totally addicted to them but after this 3rd one for my daughter I’ll probably only make one more for a Nursing Home Lapghan then quit them for awhile. But I bet I’ll be making more at a later date. Lol!

Speaking of Nursing Home Lapghans I did get the Blue squares joined and bordered from the Charity blitz on the ‘Ville! It’s taking me longer than I thought it would to get these all joined but I hope I can get them done by December so I can deliver all the ghans to the Nursing home for the holidays. I only have 3 more to go.

I was gifted the pattern for The Shawler from a super great elf in the Holiday’s in July wish list. I love this. I made 2 of them. One for me and one for my Mom for her birthday.

This is the one I made for me using the Sensations Rainbow Boucle in the purple colorway. I love how this yarn striped itself.

I made this one for my Mom out of Dusty Blue Homespun yarn.

The purple one is so light and yet warm with that Rainbow Boucle. I can’t wait to wear it!

I’ve finally gotten some more lapghans for the nursing home done. I got the motifs from the Summer Lace lapghan joined and bordered. The Bon Print varigated yarn is really hard to photograph. The flash washes it out so I had to shoot it without it.

I went real bold with this one lol. I hope it makes somebody feel cheery when they wrap themselves up in it. the pattern for this is in the Crochet with heart book. It is my 3rd pattern from the book.

I had started another one called the soft hearts for baby (pictured on the left) but I just really didn’t like the yarns I was using so the first strip of it I finished became a scarf to be donated to a yet unknown charity. The one on the right was the start of a baby blanket but I just wasn’t digging the colors for a baby so I turned it into a scarf. lol It too is waiting for a charity to go to. They are kid size so I’m sure I’ll come across one soon.

This one is made from the green squares the ladies from Crochetville sent me for the August Charity Blitz. They sure sent some lovely squares!

These have also been updated on my nursing home project page.

Well August is over and the squares for that month from the Charity blitz are trickling in. I ended up with 102 squares from 6 laadies on Crochetville.  August was my charity for the Blitz. I am taking any color or design of 8 inch squares to make into lapghans for the Nursing Home. I hope to have a bundle of them to give them in December to hand out as Christmas presents.

I’ll get 6 more lapghans out of the 102 squares and I have 6 I’ve made so I hope to get a few more made by then.

September’s Charity is for a hospital and they need preemie burial gowns. A very sad thing, hopefully they give the family some comfort knowing a stranger made the gown for them with their own hands. These are the 7 I’m sending out at the end of the month.

On a lighter note. I’ve started a placemat set for our table. I put the pattern for it up on my pattern blog.  I’m using the Handicrafter cotton and sugar n cream for it.

We had our own form of the Olympics on Crochetville. It was the Crochet Greek Games and everybody that wanted to participate had to pick a project that would be a challange for themselves and get it done from starting when the opening ceremony started to putting down the hook when the flame went out.

I picked a filet that I designed for my challange. I had only done filet one other time and that was a long time ago. While I don’t think it’s that hard. The project turned out to be way bigger than I thought and I also had to spend a day tweeking my pattern I made but I got it done and got a gold medal for it. I might even win a prize!

It turned out to be 34 x 37 inches and used up 1500 yards of size 10 thread.

I don’t know what I’ll do with it since it came out so big LOL!! I did make a couple mistakes in it and will have to try to fix them but for now it’s done. This made my eyes go cross from all the open spaces in it. LOL.

 It’s been a slow crochet month for me.

I got 2 of the Tunisian blocks for the CAL on Ravelry done. I finished my May one and got the pattern up on my crochet ramblings blog and whipped up a June block. Now to start my July block.

May Tunisian block.

I took the photo of the block upside down so the picture is upside down to show the block right side up. I’ve posted this pattern on my pattern blog. I like how the variegated in Tunisian comes out but it drives me a little nuts that you can tell where I had to join the new yarn. I don’t know why the pattern of the yarn changed so much but there it is. I might suggest making sure you start with a full skein so that doesn’t happen.

June Tunisian block

This one was real easy to make but I made it a little too small so I’ll have to add some border to the sides and hope it looks alright in the finished afghan.

After working so much on the CRWs I wanted to do a quick project so I whipped up this hooded scarf from Crochet Today magazine. I love it but boy it gave me fits. I think I’ll make some more for Christmas gifts and they shouldn’t be so troubling next time.

Front view.

Side veiw.

This is going to my best friend in Iowa. I still have to weave in the ends but otherwise it is finished. Next I need to try my hand at a tea cozy for her husband.

I’m trying to clear up a few other things before we start the Crochet Games during the Olympics on the ‘Ville.

The Crochet games is where you pick a project you want to do that is challanging to you and try to finish it from the start of the Olympics to the end of them. There will be some prizes and virtual medals for the crochet atheletes. I’m doing a filet with our wedding date and DD’s birthday on it.

I’ve got the squares ready to be assembled for another lapghan for the nursing home. The Charity blitz on the ‘Ville is making squares for me for the lapghans in August, so I will be very busy assembling them in the next few months. I hope to make a big delivery in the beginning of December for Christmas presents for as many of the residents as I can.

Finally I have finished my Cathedral Rose Windows.

Yes, I did 2 of them at the same time and finished them 12 days apart and I want to do some more in other colors but I think I’ll wait. This is one pattern that amazes me that I’m not tired of after doing 2 of them.

I want to get better photos of them but they are so big that this will have to do till I can figure out a better way to get a photo from over head more.

CRW #1

CRW #2

And the 2 of them together in my front yard.

I’m really amazed how someone can come up with patterns like this! They are truely talented people.

I finished up another lapghan for the Nursing home so thought I better go ahead and post it in here. Hehehe

I used the Stunning Shells pattern in the “Best loved Afghans” book. That’s 2 patterns done from this book now. The next pattern is Soft Hearts for Baby and I’ll either do it in baby yarn for a Charity blitz project or give it to the nursing home for a lapghan. We’ll see once I pick out the yarn for it.

 The verigated makes it hard to see the pattern in it.  It has a lot of puff stitches for the shells.

I hope to be showing at least one finished Cathedral Rose Window this month. I’m so close to finishing the first one. Cross my fingers and knock on wood that I get one if not both done this month.