This and That....

Moving....

my blog site, not my living quarters!  LOL

You can now find me HERE!

 

Crochet Baby Blanket

I learned how to crochet many, many years ago, but just recently picked it back up.  I wanted to make a quick baby blanket for my Sister-in-Law's baby shower that is coming up in August.  I hadn't asked her what colors she was going to use, but luckily for me, I guessed correctly!  She absolutely LOVES pink, so couldn't go wrong with a variegated pink cotton yarn.  

This is basically a *GIANT* Granny Square, finished off with a shell border.  I think it came out pretty cute!

Linking up here:

 

 

 

Oblique Ruched Bag

It's been far to long since I have posted, but just had to post this purse that I just finished.  I took a workshop at the Knit Schtick with Pam Powers, the author of the purse pattern.  When I first saw this purse at the Schtick, I went WILD and HAD to sign up for the workshop.  

This also gave me the excuse to break out my sewing machine again.  

The outside of the bag is knit and then I sewed up the lining on the sewing machine and hand stitched it to the inside of the knitted bag - which is also stretched around that white canvas'ie stuff.  

Great project, even if I did complain that it is ALOT of work...it is WELL worth all the work!!  

Posting here:

 

 

Happy New Year!

OK - it's 16 days into the new year already and I have yet to post!!  What's up with that?  I usually look at a ton of blogs everyday, yet I don't post myself.  I sure do need to get better at it this year.  

My first knit project of the year - finished in a couple hours.  My first time with a Mobius cast on, but there is a great tutorial on YouTube that explains step by step.  I used the Infinity Cowl Mobius pattern found exclusively at Knit Schtick!!  My FAVORITE knit store :)  go check it out if you live in Orange County.  Without further a-do:

The yarn was heavenly - Misty Alpaca/Hand Painted Chunky.  One skein is all it took :)  Of course the weather went from ***COLD*** to *HOT* this weekend!!  87 degrees in January - we had the hottest spot in the country!!  Guess I'll wait for it to cool down again.

The warm weather does provide for GREAT sunsets though...went down to Aliso Creek last night to shoot the sunset - wow was it pretty...check this shot out:

More to come....Enjoy!

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Over the last week, I have been decorating and getting ready for Christmas.  The cold I got over the Thanksgiving holiday is still hanging on, so been trying to take it easy this past week, but looks like I am finally done decorating!

There's a total of 4 little trees that look so cute in my little living room :)

I did try a new little craft this year:

Super duper easy to make:

A tree form from JoAnn's, Spice Drops from Pavillions, hot glue gun and away you go.  I started at the bottom and worked my way up to the top.  Took maybe 10 minutes total to make and is an adorable center piece on my kitchen table.  

Reminds me of a couple years ago when I decided to make a gingerbread house...and one night I heard "munching", only to find out that I had a little *friend* who decided that in the middle of the night, he would snack away on the house.  I really hope that I have no new "friends" at my new place this year :)

This morning I managed to crank out some snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookies as well.  

Fa la la la la...la la la....la....
 
 

 

Supplies Roll-Up

In the Home Ec class that I took online, one of the projects was a supply roll-up.  I decided to make this for my double pointed knitting needles :)  This was the first time I had ever used Oil Cloth.  Luckily, M&L Fabrics had some great choices....Joann's not so much!  Oil cloth is almost like slippery table cloth material, but with no backing on it.  I didn't change my needle and just had to push the fabric a wee bit to get it to work.  I think it came out adorable:

Great little project!

I might have to go gather up Toto and head to the garage (since we don't have basements)....Man is it WINDY today!  The good thing is that is chilly and therefore the whole "fire watch" that normally happens on our news channels shouldn't be happening today!  I think the fact that I have these VERY big trees behind my condo and they butt up right to a little hill that the wind seems worse than it really is....but sheesh!  This are rolling all over the patio and it sounds like we are having a hurricane!

Sunrise

On Sunday morning, my friend Joe and I headed down to the San Clemente pier to take sunrise photo's. 

Check them out here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/88365013@N00/sets/72157625223033009/with/5161498682/

Mr & Mrs T

Several years ago I took a Tole Painting classes and these were one of the first things that we made.  They were so adorable and I put them out every Thanksgiving.  Then one year I moved and they somehow got "misplaced" in my parents garage.  We searched high and low and couldn't find them.  About 2 years ago they showed up...maybe they were traveling the world spreading their "Pilgrim" stories tho those who needed to hear about Thanksgiving!  Anyway, they are back where they belong :)

Normally I put them on my front porch as a greeting, but since I don't come in the front door at my new place, I decided that they needed to be in the living room with me!  They are just too cute, don't you think?

I made several sets of these *way back when* and sold them at a craft show.  They went over like hot cakes!  Very simple to make too.  Without further ado, here are Mr. and Mrs. T:

 

Details:

And just because the Sunset was so gorgeous last night, here's a photo:

Come back tomorrow for Sunrise pictures down in San Clemente...it was beautiful :)

 

Linked here:

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

 

Finally...a weekend for me!

This past weekend I finally did things that were just for me!  Saturday I got out my sewing machine again and went to town on some baby shower gifts for my cousin.  She has 2 boys and is expecting a baby girl in December!  I whipped up a couple of cute receiving blankets and some spit up towels too.  

Both blankets have one side flannel and the other is 100% cotton.  I threw the material in the washer before I sewed them up to account for shrinking.  These will go along with the cute baby cloche and some outfits that my Mom picked up too.

For the blankets I used a yard each of the cotton and the flannel  Turned then both so that the print sides were facing each other and stitched closed, leaving about a 3-4 inch opening.  Then I turned right side out, ironed the seams real well and topstitched all the way around, closing the opening as well.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

Also finished up week 5 of the photo class that Joe and I are taking.  This week was all about Aperture.   I have this nailed down!!  When we signed up for the class, we really weren't sure if we should take the "basics" or go for more composition.  To be honest, this class is a little too easy for us, but it's been good practice nonetheless.  Here are some photo's I've taken in the last couple weeks:

I have a couple family pictures lined up over the next couple weekends for holiday photo's.  Last year I did an Economy Stimulus and told all my friends I'd do their family portraits for free.  This year I just don't have the time to do as many as I did last year :)  

 

 

Laptop Case

Earlier this fall I decided that I wanted to get back into sewing.  It had been years since I broke out my sewing machine and *created* something and I got the "itch" to do it again.  I signed up for an online sewing class:  

This class was TERRIFIC!!  Every day for 3 weeks they posted a new project.  One of my favorites was the laptop case:

Not only is this absolutely adorable, it is functional and was *easy peasy* to make!  

On another note:  WOW - the wind is really blowing today!!  Southern California is now under a wind advisory and boy, this is total fire weather....keeping fingers crossed and saying a big time prayer that NO fires happen today :)