Too Far To Turn Back Now

     Back on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016 I posted this Is is Yarn or Fabric?  I decided that I was going to make a bedspread just like the one featured in the post. After all, I have a full size bed not a king size bed, so I won't need 270 granny squares and I'll be finished in no time. Right?!

     This photo above shows 150 granny squares, 25 different colors of yarn plus the white edging. I need 48 more granny squares, 8 more colors to finish the granny square portion of this project. Then I'll have to put it together. Wish me luck. . . .I've gone to far to turn back now. I'm committed.

     The crocheting continues . . .

Finished! . . .finally

     I used a pre-stretched aida canvas:6" x 6" (a first) and using a photo from a Hobby Lobby brochure I stitched this beauty up. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. But finally, it is finished.

     Hobby Lobby featured this on a brochure but there was no pattern online or in the brochure. The ad stated that this was a perfect beginner piece. That's not quite true. First of all there was no pattern, and second of all the photo showed the project stitched and then stretched onto the wooden frame. There is no possible way that someone could stitch it to match the photo without stitching it first and then stretching it. Clearly this was not a beginner project. In fact I could see a beginner becoming so frustrated with this project that they gave up stitching forever. I really wish that Hobby Lobby would stop doing this type of thing with their brochures.

     That being said, I like the way it turned out, even if I had to make adjustments in the design. I don't know how much of a fan I am of pre-stretched aida cloth. But it is a unique piece and I have it hanging on my wall.

Happy New Year 2017!

I completed two messy buns hats for my future daughter-in-law and future granddaughter. (She refers to me as "her almost grandma"). I also completed a stocking cap for my son. At Dollar Tree, I found velour gloves in colors to match the hats. These were Christmas gifts but I didn't finish them until New Years Eve, so this just may be the start of a new holiday tradition. LOL

I took a bit of a break from the granny square bedspread that I'm working on. It was nice to create something other then granny squares for a change.

Is It Yarn or Fabric?

     I saw this lovely king sized afghan on the internet the other day and did a double take.  It was on Crochet Addict, and it looked like fabric.  Was it fabric bordered by crochet, or was it all crochet? And if it was all crochet, what in the world did the artist do to get it to look like that?  I'm intrigued.

     This beauty was created by Kristin Colyar.  Come to find out, all the "fabric" squares are blended yarns.  The granny squares are 6" square (the pattern for the granny squares is here: Craft Passion). The afghan is 18 squares wide and 15 squares long, and features 40 different blended yarns.  There are 270 squares total and I figured up that this was roughly a 6 squares repeat (so 6 squares per skein). Kristin used I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.

     I've never used this yarn, so I thought this might be a good time to check out the colors available.  It looked great in Kristin's king sized afghan.  Well, I was a bit disappointed.  I found the yarn, I counted the blended yarn colors and there were a lot more than 40, but a lot of the color combinations were not to my liking.  I found one that was OK and I bought it.  I'm going to make up some sample squares and see how it looks.  The colors look great in her afghan, so maybe once the yarn is made into granny squares I'll like it better.  The yarn is really soft and thinner than Red Heart yarn.  But I don't know if I can get past the blended colors.  I'd use Red Heart, I dearly love their color combinations, but I don't think that they have 40 colors of blended prints. I tried to look up color charts for both I Love This Yarn and Red Heart yarn on the internet and couldn't find a good chart for the yarn colors.

     I'll keep you posted on what I find out once I complete my experimental squares.

On The Internet . . .

     I saw this pattern on a dubious website, (that I'm not going to recommend the website), but I am going to recommend the blog that it originated from: Simply Crochet & other crafts.  I immediately fell in love with it and knew I had to make one.  

     I had a difficult time finding the print yarn.  I think it must be a Red Heart yarn that has been discontinued.  Joann Fabrics in Salina had it and I bought all they had, which was 5 skeins, so I'm hopeful that this will be enough to finish this project.  

   
     There are 3 strips that resemble the one pictured here, and then 2 strips that are reversed.  I have finished this 1 row, so far, and I started this project back in December 2015.  I'm only working on it during breaks at work, so it may take a while.  That's fine, because I don't need it finished until September of this year and I think I can make that deadline.  LOL

     I'm using aspen print, buff, and frosty green.  They look dynamite together and these colors make it very country looking.  Originally when I saw this pattern I thought that the aspen print was fabric because it looked more like fabric than yarn.

     As I've worked on this at work, one of my co-workers became intrigued and began asking a lot of questions.  Finally she asked me if I would show her how to crochet and I said that I would.  We had an out of town work meeting to go to one day with a long drive ahead of us and she and I were sitting in the back.  She said she would bring yarn and a hook but I didn't believe her.  People say things all the time.  But she showed up with hook and yarn and I showed her how to make a chain and a single crochet.

     By the time we got to the meeting she was "hooked" LOL.  She wanted to take her crochet into the meeting,  We talked her out of it.  At lunch she wanted to go through the drive thorough because it would take time away from crocheting to go in to eat.  We made her go in with us.  Back at the meeting we had to wrestle her crochet away from her because she didn't want to get out of the car to go back to the meeting.  On the way home, we stopped for gas and a potty break and she refused to get out of the car.  LOL  When we got home she said she was sending her daughters out to eat because it would take to much time to fix supper.  I think I created a monster!!!

     Now she's taught her daughter how to crochet, she's got 5 more projects planned, and she's starting to hang out on the yarn aisle at Wal Mart.  LOL

     One of the ladies that attended the meeting with us, told me yesterday that she got so interested in what we were doing that she has started a project and is thinking about making a temperature blanket, too.  She's saved photos to her phone so she can look at them at work to stay close to her crochet. LOL

     Whatever you do in life, it has a ripple effect that you have no idea how many people it will touch.

Hey, It's Crochet!

     I started this project originally back in February 2015 and I completed the center of it.  I was going through a stressful time and my stitches were all over the place.  It was a wreck!  In December 2015, I started getting interested in crochet again, due in a large part to The Crochet Crowd.  I picked it back up, ripped out all my stitches and took it down to the yarn and started over again.  And here it is today . . . I have the black skein to finish, then I'm adding on another 5 rows of the neon print, and finish it off with a row of black edging.  I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out.  

Groovyghan

    

 If your interested in a crochet-along I've found one I think you'll like.  It's the "Groovyghan".  I have the button along my sidebar and it will take you directly to the blog:

 Keep Calm and Crochet on UK

Once you get the instructions, make sure to click at the top of the blog on

the crochet-a-long 2016 link for the dates that the patterns will be released.

Also, sign up for the automatic updates, I did that and it is a great way to stay on top of  the CAL.

The CAL just started on January 13th and the next pattern release will be today, January 27th.

I'm using neon colors for my Groovyghan and I'll post updates as I complete each step.

That reminds me, I better get busy, I'm already behind . . .  LOL

Exhibit by Deb Waggoner

     I stopped by the Hutchinson Public Library today and viewed the January exhibit by Deb Waggoner.  Her textile art is interesting but what really stood out to me was the way it was artistically arranged on the wall.  It was almost like it was two exhibits in one; the actual textile art pieces and then the arrangements of those pieces for display.

     The tag next to this vest, said that it was completed during a difficult time during the artist's life.  It's such a beautiful piece with such hope stitched into it.

     I loved the bottle caps on this messenger bag.

     Knitted with tiny stitches.  This took a lot of patience and time.

     The tag that accompanied this piece reminded me of a quote from Dr. Suess . . .'Oh the places you'll go". 

     I especially liked the quote on the tag that accompanied this piece . . . the work of our hands,*it's never done.  How true, especially for those of us that work with our hands to create art.

     The tag that accompanied this piece identified it as "The Blessing Bowl".  It encouraged the viewer to "Look for blessings both big and small in a conscious manner".  I've been doing that as of late and truly I don't think anyone realizes just how much they have to be thankful for, or how blessed they truly are.

     What a beautiful jacket.

     The artist reception is Thursday, January 28 from 6 to 8:00 pm upstairs in the auditorium gallery.  And check out Deb's website: http://www.twowindowsdyeco.com/index.html

     Someone with considerable drawing talent visited this display and left his mark as well.

It's Time for . . ."Tea For Two"!

It's time for the big reveal:

 

Here's the fabric, the floss colors, and  the pattern.

 

 

I used a blue erasable pen to mark off the pattern. I'm going to cut everything into blocks and stitch it down on the grey fabric that I chose. I had planned on one type of project but have since changed my mind. 

 

Unfortunately, my big reveal isn't that big after all. I had big plans and then there were some family problems, some extra trainings at work, an illness; none of which are excuses. Just real life stepped in.

I am going to finish this project and when it's done I'll post it here on the blog.

Who knows, maybe I'll have it done by the time the blog hop ends. 

Keep your fingers crossed!

I can't wait to see what every one else has done with the pattern. Be sure and check out all of the blogs to see how all the ladies

And time for the "Tea for Two" blog hop . . .

April 1st

 

Happiness is Cross Stitching

Doris guest posting at Sew We Stitch

Chalk Outlines

Moose Stash Quilting

Needled Mom

 

April 2nd

 

Creativity Amongst Chaos

Hill Valley Quilter

MaMAccessories

Blessings From Our Nest

 

April 6th

 

How ART you?

Stitchin' By The Lake

Bumbleberry Cottage

Sew Incredibly Crazy

It Seams to be Sew

 

April 7th

 

Jenny of Elefantz

Sunshine's Blog

I Piece 2 Mary

Just Let Me Quilt

Sew We Stitch

Welcome SPRING!

Enjoy this beautiful Spring Saturday!!!

Meet and Greet Stitchers From Around The World

Welcome Spring!!!

I'm thrilled to be able to join all these talented people for this Spring meet and greet. To be included on this list is quite humbling. I'm excited too, to see all the wonderful projects that everyone has been working on over time.

Let me introduce myself: I'm Lydia!

I enjoy all types of stitching: hand embroidery, cross stitch, and applique. I also enjoy making miniature quilts and I crochet. But by far, my favorite is hand embroidery. A couple of years ago I discovered some amazing designers on the internet and they made me think about embroidery in an entirely new way. It was like a light bulb went off; literally there was a cartoon light bulb over my head one day. It just appeared. LOL

It was so very hard trying to decide what projects I wanted to share with you. So here are 5 of my favorite projects. I hope you enjoy them.

Project #1

The pattern above, I  found on the internet, it was on the blog "New Embroidery with Vintage Designs" here. It's entitled "Too Funny". The blog "Feelin; Stitchy" featured my version on their blog here.

Project #2:

One of my favorite TV shows use to "House" and when I saw this on "Lots of Neat Stuff" I knew I had to make a version of it for myself. So I downloaded a photo of the House character from off the official House website and made my own version. Check out Cristy's blog and her version here

Project #3: 

I found this pattern on the internet, as well, unfortunately, I was never able to find my way back to it to grab the link or let the designer know about my work. If anyone is familiar with this particular blog or this stitchers work, I'd love the link. I just think this is the cutest idea ever.

Project #4:

This embroidery at the center of this design was a BOM one year on the "Little Miss Shabby" blog, entitled "Birdy Stitches here. I have all the patterns but still have yet to make the full quilt with all 12 blocks. But I did make this block. I believe it is the April block. I just loved the tree. One day I was driving past a church and on the sign out front was this quote: "Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come". And suddenly this small quilt came to life.

Project #5:

And last but not least, here is an original design the I made for a challenge for The Silver Needles Quilt Guild that I belonged to at the time. I used embroidery and lots of different embellishments. The fabric that the masks are made from was the challenge fabric and it had to be incorporated somehow into the design. I didn't win any prizes at the quilt guild unveiling. (Once I'd seen everything that the rest of the guild had made, I felt like an amateur. All those extremely talented ladies ahd far surpassed my talents.) But I did enter it in the Tri Rivers Fair later that year and won first place for my division. I could hardly believe it that night when I went in after the judges had made their decisions in the morning. I went in at a time when there was literally no one in the building except for the tour guides, just in case the disappointment was to much to bear. Instead, the shock and waves of joy were almost to much to bear. My world . . .LOL

I hope you've enjoyed this walk through some of my favorite projects. Be sure and check out all of the other blogs and projects. I know I can't wait to see everyone's big reveal.

Here they are....

Let's Greet and Meet the following beautiful Stitchers.

Mdm Samm @ sewwestitch

cross stitcher

Cori@creativityamongstchaos

applique

Hilda @hidisgoodlife

cross stitcher

 Meet Maria at little room in the attic

cross stitcher

Elizabeth @ecoughlindesigns
applique and red work

Theresa @bumbleberrycottage.com
cross stitcher

Anita from quiltinanotshell

applique embroidery

Judy at frimart 
cross stitcher and applique

Linda @ buzzingandbumbling
applique

Neinke At debordurrvrouw
cross stitcher

Barbara @ catpatches
embroidery

Baa @baasamazingadventures
embroidery

Thearica @ pigtalesandquilts
cross stitcher

Lynn @happinesiscrossstitching
cross stitch

Mary @Ipiece2Mary

cross stitch and applique

cross stitch

Jill @ appleavenuequilts
cross stitch and applique

Jane @ Jane's Quilting 

applique

Tonja @ zabawa

cross stitch with decorative seams

Marlene @ stitchinbythelake
wool applique and cross stitch

Daria @ zinaidaanshe
cross stitch

Jane @grandmamastories
cross stitch

Mary @needledmom
Cross Stitch and embroidery

Sherry@sherry-blessingsfromournest
embroidery

Jane@quiltsmiles
cross stitch

Kathy @kathyquilts
embroidery

/Jill @ appleavenuequilts
applique and cross stitch

stitching noni @ firefliescatsinthegarden
cross stitch

Ariadne @ ariadne from Greece
cross stitch

Karen @ quiltscrowsandcardinals
applique

Judy @ judy cooper

embroidery

Cindi @ twistedtangledthreads

cross stitch

Lydia @ yoursunnystory

embroidery and cross stitch

Ella and Nesta @ellaandnesta
cross stitch

Mrs Meyer @ withworkinhand
cross stitch

Cathy @ cathycrossstitch
cross stitch

It's Tomorrow . . .

It's time! Here's the list . . . check out all of these talented ladies and their blogs.
Midnight tonight . . . it begins . . .

Here they are....

Let's Greet and Meet the following beautiful Stitchers.

Mdm Samm @ sewwestitch

cross stitcher

Cori@creativityamongstchaos

applique

Hilda @hidisgoodlife

cross stitcher

 Meet Maria at little room in the attic

cross stitcher

Elizabeth @ecoughlindesigns
applique and red work

Theresa @bumbleberrycottage.com
cross stitcher

Anita from quiltinanotshell

applique embroidery

Judy at frimart 
cross stitcher and applique

Linda @ buzzingandbumbling
applique

Neinke At debordurrvrouw
cross stitcher

Barbara @ catpatches
embroidery

Baa @baasamazingadventures
embroidery

Thearica @ pigtalesandquilts
cross stitcher

Lynn @happinesiscrossstitching
cross stitch

Mary @Ipiece2Mary

cross stitch and applique

cross stitch

Jill @ appleavenuequilts
cross stitch and applique

Jane @ Jane's Quilting 

applique

Tonja @ zabawa

cross stitch with decorative seams

Marlene @ stitchinbythelake
wool applique and cross stitch

Daria @ zinaidaanshe
cross stitch

Jane @grandmamastories
cross stitch

Mary @needledmom
Cross Stitch and embroidery

Sherry@sherry-blessingsfromournest
embroidery

Jane@quiltsmiles
cross stitch

Kathy @kathyquilts
embroidery

/Jill @ appleavenuequilts
applique and cross stitch

stitching noni @ firefliescatsinthegarden
cross stitch

Ariadne @ ariadne from Greece
cross stitch

Karen @ quiltscrowsandcardinals
applique

Judy @ judy cooper

embroidery

Cindi @ twistedtangledthreads

cross stitch

Lydia @ yoursunnystory

embroidery and cross stitch

Ella and Nesta @ellaandnesta
cross stitch

Mrs Meyer @ withworkinhand
cross stitch

Cathy @ cathycrossstitch
cross stitch

Embroidery Swap

I just received my swap package in the mail from Christine. Check out what she sent me.

 

Here's everything that was in the package she sent me.

Thank You, Christine, for the lovely swap gift.

Embroidery Swap

I joined a swap this year,

check out The Elefantz Blog

and the stitchery club.

Here's what I sent off to my swap partner today:

 here's the embroidery project that I stitched
(this is the cushion bird pattern-you can find it here on Craftsy:

 and here is what I included along with my project.

I don't know who got my name or what I'll receive but I can't wait to find out.

I'll post it here when it arrives.

HELLO! I'm Back . . .

     Happy to have a brand new shiny year ahead of me. WELCOME 2015! The last couple of years; 2013 and 2014 were not good years. But I believe that 2015 is going to be a turnaround year for me.

     I have a new apartment:

     In a new town:

     With a new job.


      I have a lot of creative projects planned and I'm going to be joining some groups in town to meet people. Even though I've lived here nearly a year I haven't really met many people, so it would be nice to get to know people and make some new friends in the community.

     One of the creative projects I signed up for this year was an embroidery swap through the Elefantz stitchery club. Check out the button on the side of my blog for more information. I'm so excited to be participating in this project. I got the name of my swap partner this morning and I've already planned what I'll be sending her. I hope the person who got my name is as excited as I was when I opened my email this morning.

     I'm also going to be participating in The Vintage Kitchen Redwork BOM this year. Check out the button on the side of my blog for more information about this new Free! BOM. I picked up my supplies this morning to make the quilt. I wasn't able to find the main patterned fabric but I have nine months to look for it. So either I'll find the actual fabric, something similar, or something I like that goes well with the design. I found a couple of interesting fabrics at Hobby Lobby today, when I picked up the white block fabric and red embroidery floss. I'm thinking about it but I think I'll keep looking. Part of the fun of a new project is visiting a variety of fabric stores to see if I can find that just right quilt fabric.

Happy New Year-2015!

 

I may be a few days late. . .but Happy New Year, 2015!

(a Flikr creative commons image-photo by Chris Chabot)