Blanket for Baby "Kate"

My S-I-L is expecting a baby girl in September!  They are calling her "Kate" but we don't yet know if that will be her real name.  I actually manage to get a baby blanket made before she was born (a minor) miracle)!  I used this Gingham Blanket pattern from Bernat.  I couldn't find dark pink coordinating yarn to actually achieve the gingham look so I used "orchid" instead.  It's not really gingham but I still think it's very cute.  The pattern was super easy; I will be using this one over and over, I think.  It's made from Bernat Baby Coordinate yarn.  It is super soft and passed the Miss E snuggle test with flying colors.  

I hope Baby Kate will love it.  I think it is one of the nicest blankets I have ever made. 

A Square a Day in May

Week Two

Between vacation and work I have been really bad about posting anything.  I'm back now and I have been crocheting like a maniac.  Here are my squares for week two of A Square a Day in May.  Day 10 was a complete nightmare.  I don't know what happened or where I went wrong but I lost it somewhere and never did get it to work right.  I may try blocking it to see if I can get it to straighten out but more likely I will leave it out of my completed blanket.  Day 12 I had already made  in February for the Block a Month CAL.

Day 8: On the Huh

Day 9: Falling Star

Day 10: Framed Flower

Day 11: Flowery Square

Day 12: Grandma's Heart Square

Day 13: Multi Colour Flower

Day 14: Violet Crochet Square

Sorry for the looooong and not very attractive formatting.  Sometimes I just don't have the patience to fight with Blogger over  moving my photos around.

Google+

Is anyone using Google+?  J sent me an invitation so I've been playing around with it a little.  I think I have a total of 12 people in my circles.  I'm withholding judgement at this point.  I can't figure it out yet.  Maybe the problem is that there's not very many people using it yet.  I don't know.  I do like that when I log into Google everything is right there - email, Reader, Blogger, social networking...I kind of hope it turns out to be cool. 

Silhouette love

Back from vacation and ready to craft! 

I am blessed with an amazing family and extremely lucky to be married to one of the best men on the planet.  Seriously.  He recently proved that to me once again when he bought me a Silhouette SD for my birthday.  I have been lusting after that thing since the first time I saw one.  I haven't had much time to play around with it yet but I've done a couple of little things.I made this little tote bag for Miss E for our recent mother-daughter train trip to Portland.  She LOVED it.  I used the smooth iron on transfer in pink and blue.

The color looks terrible in these pictures because I had to use my iPhone.  I misplaced the cable for my camera during vacay so I'm stuck with my phone for a camera until Amazon delivers a new one.  But I digress...

I also used some delightful pink vinyl to monogram my laptop.  You know, cause I can.  I LOVE my Silhouette.  Love love love it!

I confess, I put my initials on my iPhone too. 

There are so many things I can do with the Silhouette I don't even know where to start.  What should my next project be?

Coming soon...something!

I am woefully behind in posting anything. I've been busy doing, though. New sewing and crochet projects comng soon as well as some Mod Podge jewelry and the excitement of my brand new Silhouette SD!

A Square a Day in May - Week 1

I have finished the first week of squares of for the CAL going on on at Hooked on Handmade.  I skipped the squares that I have already made for the Block-a-Month CAL so I have total of 6 squares for the first week.

 

Day 1: Amethyst

Day 2: Kata

Day 4: Blooming Granny

Day 5: Starfire

Day 6: Victorian Dream

Purple Passion Heart











Fabric Flowers



I am completely obsessed with making fabric flowers.  I don't know why.  I actually had to create and entire "Paper and Fabric Flowers" board on Pinterest because I have pinned so many.  OB-sessed.  

  

Following  this tutorial from A Little Of This, A Little Of That I made this cute Fabric Flower Hair clip for Miss E.  I opted to use two coordinating fabrics instead of just one for some added fun.  This meant adding an extra petal, which threw the size and shape of the flower off a little but I managed to wrangle it together with some brute force and hot glue. 

Cutout three 2 3/4 inch squares of each fabric.  Fold the squares in half and press the folded edge lightly.  I made some later and did not press the fold.  It's a whole lot easier to sew the petals if you take this extra step, particularly if you use smaller squares of fabric (which I did later).  Sorry for the crappy pictures, I'm still learning how to use this camera.



Stitch along the open sides of your triangle and pull the thread to gather the petal.  repeat with each triangle of fabric until all the petals are stitched together.  Attach the button to the front of your flower.  I sewed mine on a little bit to hold the shape of the flower together but it's really held on with a healthy blob of hot glue.  I also made some with gems in the middle instead of buttons.

 

Using a hot glue gun, attach a circle of felt to the back and glue on a hair clip.  I made some with alligator clips and some with small french barrettes.  Both work well, I haven't figured out yet which type Miss e will actually keep in her hair.  So far she pulls out both types with equal speed.

These flowers are super easy to make.  They come together really quickly and they are fun.  I've made a bunch of different hair clips and I used the same flowers on my Royal Wedding party fascinator.




Some other variations:  



 

with black feathers added



fascinator with satin flowers