NaBloPoMo - August 2012

I am going to participate in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) during August. I have been in a blogging rut and I am hoping that by committing to this challenge - I will get out of said rut. I have done this challenge a couple of times before and have happily been successful with it.  Plus, my wonderful husband purchased our family a new camera and I have some crafting pictures to share again.

The theme for August is Sweet. I can either use the prompts provided or blog about my own topics. I'm certain that I will do a combination of the two. If this sounds like something you'd enjoy - click the image above and join in the fun.

Still Crafting

I am still crafting but sadly, I have no pictures to show for anything that has been finished lately.  My camera is not working at all.  I don't even know what exactly happened.  We went on a family picnic two weekends ago and while there - my husband said the memory card for our camera was broken.  I asked him how that could be as I had just uploaded pictures the day before.  He didn't know but said it was an easy fix by just getting a new card.  Unfortunately, this is not the case as the camera won't even power up now.  Such a bummer and I'm not certain when exactly I'll get a new camera.  It has to be sometime this summer though.  I can not go without taking lots of pictures.  I've been taking some with my phone but I don't like the quality of my phone pics as well as my Canon digital camera.

I've completed - and my daughter has given - end of year thank you gifts to her teachers.  We made mini Granny square bags which turned out adorably.  I've also completed mini bags for my daughters and a big Granny summer tote for myself.  At least i can photograph/post about those once we have a new camera.

I've also been working on afghans.  One is for Laura for the Ravelry afghan swap and two are Christmas gifts.  I won't say for whom just in case this blog is being read by any of them.

My daughters have a lot of fun craft ideas that they want to do over summer vacation, too.

Granny Square Afghan CAL

I decided, rather on a whim, actually - to participate in a summer CAL (Crochet-a-Long).  This is a first for me but I am excited.  The Granny Square Sampler Afghan CAL is being hosted at WiseCraft and anyone can join in at any time during the summer event.  As I am attempting to make a few afghans for Christmas presents - this seems like a great way to work on this lofty aspiration.  You do notice that I said attempting to make, right? I've got myself on a schedule and I'm hoping for the best but we'll see where I'm at come December.  I do believe that this CAL will help me achieve the Christmas goal, though.

Anyway, I'm very excited to get started with this.  Fortunately, it just started on May 18th and it's a weekly thing so I'm not far behind at all.  Oh, and thank you to Casey at Plus 3 Crochet for posting about her involvement in this CAL.  That's where I learned about this.  So, if you decide to participate, please let me know! One of the things I'm really looking forward to is seeing the progress of other participants.

A Shawl becomes a Shrug

Last month I received a wonderful package from Laura - who is my Afghan Swap 2012 partner.  The package contained several skeins of Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn.  One of the skeins is called Summer Happens and I love it.  I almost immediately set out to make a triangle shawl with it.  I finished the shawl today but it is too small for me or any other adult.  Luckily, my daughters loved the shawl.  Since it's the perfect size for them - I gave it to them.  And yes, I know I could have simply purchased another skein of the yarn and made the shawl bigger but my girls really wanted this one.

Of course, as they are little girls, the concept of a shawl just does not work.  They quickly got irritated with the fact that the shawl kept falling off of their shoulders as they were playing.  So, I made a few single crochet stitches up each side of the shawl in order to make armholes.  A shrug was born and my girls are thrilled.  So am I.

Laura, thank you once again for the awesome package and yarn.  I've put a couple of the other skeins to use making more teacher appreciation gifts - to be revealed soon.

Wordless Wednesday - Beach Fun

Teacher Appreciation

It's the time of year to say thanks for the wonderful teachers! Fortunately, Miss O has been very lucky with the teachers she has had so far in her school career.  I so hope this continues.  Anyway, she has two teachers this year plus an absolutely amazing reading tutor.  In three months her confidence in her reading has sky rocketed and she's jumped up a grade level.  So, as a way of saying thanks, Miss O designed - and picked out all the materials - her a purse and I made it.

I'm happy to say her reading tutor loved her bag.  And, as it turns out, she's getting married and this exact yellow and green are her wedding colors! How cool is that?

So, one teacher appreciation gift done, two to go!

A Bright Square

I am in the process of making a very bright project for Summer.  I'm hoping to be done with it this weekend and will share it during the week.  In the meantime, here is a teaser of one of the colorful, bright, summer squares:

A Wonderful Package

I received a great box of exciting crochet yumminess the other day.  I am part of a group on Ravelry called Afghan Swap 2012.  The idea (and it's a great one, in my opinion) is to get to really know one person through the year and share three swap packages with one another - the last containing, you guessed it, an afghan.  Well, I feel very lucky with the person I was paired up with and do believe we are becoming friends.  We both sent off our first packages last weekend and received them on Tuesday.  I'm happy to say that both were quite the success.

Here are some photos of my wonderful package:

In the box were: A beautiful purse for me, Hello Kitty purses for my daughters, five skeins of I Love This Yarn (which I'd never tried but now definitely do love) in shades of my favorite color green, 'Crovheted by' labels, yarn sleeves, a crochet hook with a bamboo handle (which is very comfortable to use), a book with different Granny square patterns, an adorable card and chocolate bars - yum.  I feel very fortunate and quite spoiled.  I've already said thank you to her but I'm going to say it once again - THANKS! 

A close up of the Hello Kitty bag (of which there were two).  My girls absolutely love them!

My beautiful purse - in shades of blue, also a favorite color.

Close up.  I think the pattern may be African flowers but I'm not positive.  I need to find out because I love them and want to give it a try.

The YARN! It's fabulous, really! I've already started making something out of the ombre one (which is called Summer -something, I can't find the label) and it is quite pretty.

Another close up!

Thank you, thank you! I feel so very blessed and yes, spoiled.

Nature's Art

Happy Easter

Inspiration

Tulips are  my most favorite flower.  They are so beautiful and come in a multitude of rich colors.  And while they appear fragile, they certainly are not.  I can remember late spring frost while I was in college in Boston and these flowers would stand up to practically anything Mother Nature threw at them.   These pictures weren't taken in Boston, though.  They were taken a few weeks ago in California.  I took so many pictures and had my daughters posing all over with the flowers.  Fortunately, they love tulips too and didn't mind mommy being a shutterbug with them and the gorgeous Tulips.

I am going to have to  make something in colors that mimic the gorgeous colors in this tulip garden.  These flowers and their colors are truly inspirational to me.

Tuesday's Tallies

One A Day is hosted by Carole atGingerbread Girl and on Ravelry. 


I didn't make much progress on my One a Day afghan this week.  All I did was complete the black row I had started and add two rows of the Autumn red.  Oh well, something is better than nothing, I suppose.  I intend to have more to show next week. I'm really excited about the completion of this blanket.  I put it on our bed this morning and I can actually imagine how it'll look now and I can't wait to have it done.  Here's a picture of what it looks like now:

Easter Baskets

The Easter baskets I made my daughters turned out so cute! I love them and more importantly, Miss O and Miss B love them! They had a trial run with the Girl Scouts Easter egg hunt today after school.  They are a tad floppy when in use and filled with the eggs.  I may need to add something to give the baskets a bit more support.  Floral wire maybe? Would you like to see the baskets?

An added bonus is that the girls can use the baskets after Easter for hair accessories or little toys.

Baskets

My daughters don't know this but I am in the process of making them some baskets.  I'm making each of them a new Easter basket.  Which, I must say are turning out quite adorably.  I can't wait to give them the new baskets.  I'll post pictures of the dual-colored baskets once they're complete.  I'm also trying out a large basket pattern idea for storage around our home.  Goodness knows we need it! My girls (or perhaps it's just me) need something new and better for storing their toys and dress up clothes and accessories.  I could use more craft storage, too.  Here is a basket in progress: