An Elephant Parade Game

Where has the week gone?  Time just seems to be flying by.  But that's okay.  It is so cold right now that I can hardly wait for February to be over.  The weather people are calling this cold spell a Siberian Express because it originates in Siberia.  Last year was the year of the Polar Vortex.  Crazy! But spring has got to be around the corner!  It is, isn't it?

I did a lot of sewing this past week, but I have very little to show for it.  I am still working on the Jungle Quilt, but right now I am just appliqueing the pieced down.  My machine is not happy about that and is making a lot of silly noises.  I may have to take it in for a tune up before I can continue,.  I did, however, work on the Elephant Parade quilt.  I got the frog done and made 4 little baby elephants.  I have decided to make this quilt into a matching game.  All of the adult elephants will have a matching baby elephant somewhere in the quilt.  There will be two of each of the other baby elephants too.  This is what I have done so far.

I also finished the little crocheted blanket I showed you last week.  Unfortunately I gave it to my DD before I could get a photo of it.  It is just a small blanket that she will use in the library when she takes William to story hour.  I will try to get a photo of it later.  When my DS saw the blanket he asked me to make something similar for his cats to sleep on.  I found a couple of crocheted blocks in a bag at the bottom of a bin.  I have no idea where they came from, or whether they were the beginning of a quilt or some left-over pieces.  I am going to use them.  This blanket should go together quickly and I think the cats will love it.  I am going to run the ends in as I go.  I hate having to still do them all at the end.

Playing with Yarn

I wanted a change.  So a bit of crocheting seemed to be in order.  

One of the members of our mini quilt group was working on a towel topper last Tuesday.  I thought this would be a great idea to keep the tea towels off my kitchen floor.  She was knitting hers.  After asking her a ton of questions I decided to crochet mine.  So this morning I looked through my linen closet and picked out a little towel to practice on.  I did not use a pattern, but just did my own thing, based on the answers I had received at our quilt group.  I think it turned out very well.

I will probably do a few more of these, with a bit of tweaking to make them the way I want them.  I think a bigger hook would make it softer and more flowing, because it is difficult to see the image on the towel when it is hanging up.  Here is a shot of the little bear on my towel.  This is only half of the towel, so I can make another one just like it.

Crocheted Pink Hearts Baby Blanket

I have volunteered to teach the kids in my DD's grade 6 class how to knit.  Since I have lots of left-over yarns, I will donate what I can for the kids to use.   While tidying up my yarn and needle stuff, I came across a baby blanket that I started a couple of years ago.  This is 'Pink Hearts'.  I only had a few more rows to do, so I decided to finish it.

I also want to show you the first columbine that is in bloom.  It's a yellow one.  I love this one.   

Crocheted Hexagons

Day 17 of Octoberfest.

I thought I would show you something other than my quilting projects today. Nynke from the Dutch Purple Rabbit, showed some of her crochet and asked what others are working on at the moment. So here is what I've been up to. Crocheted hexagons! The quilted kind just aren't enough for me! I have been doing these while sitting outside in my garden over the past couple of months. I find the quilt patches blow away too quickly, but the yarn stays put and I can work on it without any problems. I have lots of left over yarns and I am joining them as I go with a huge 454gm ball of Red Heart off white yarn.

Mimi loves these things! Don't you girl?

"Meow! I love the ones with tails on them. I love anything with a tail on it! Meow!"

I am trying to sew the ends in as I go. It makes for more work right now, but I will be happy when I finish it and not have to sew in thousands of ends. And Mimi will maybe leave them alone. I am also trying to make every hexie different. That is the hardest part.

While out in the park the other day I found some poison ivy growing right beside the path. This is not a very artistic shot, but it shows the beautiful colours this noxious weed has in the fall.
I am always reminded of the 'leaves of three' rule. Stay away from this one. It can cause a very itchy rash with blisters and red spots to the affected area. If you do come into contact with it, rinse it right away with COLD water. Don't use hot because the oil from the poison ivy will get deeper into the skin. It can be bad enough to see a doctor. There are some topical creams that can be applied to help the itching, but the best idea is to just stay away from it altogether. Remember............

Leaves of Three,

Let it be!

I'm on a Roll!

The baby shower was yesterday, so I can show you the 'Rubber Duckie' quilt now. I finished it on Saturday - just in the nick of time. I think it came out very cute. The new Mom and Dad loved it! I quilted in the ditch and stippled (free-motion quilted) around the ducks. It measures about 41inches by 49inches.

Because it was only about 40 inches wide I figured a piece of fabric the length of the quilt top should be enough for a backing. I thought fabric was around 43-44 inches wide. But I guess like everything else, they are making it smaller. My backing fabric was exactly 40 inches wide from selvage to selvage. It just wasn't enough to cover the back of this quilt. So I decided to piece it. I had made an extra row of duckie blocks for the front, but decided that it would make the quilt too long. So I used those blocks on the back, piecing an inch of the backing fabric between each one. I really like the backing material. It has little ducks on it, but after seeing it on the back of the quilt, I felt that it was kind of boring, so I am really glad I did a bit of 'back art' to give it some interest.

I also crocheted the upcoming baby a baby afghan. It is done in the same 'I love scraps' pattern that I used to make the one for my mother (you can see it here) a few weeks ago - the one she wanted to give away to the new Mom and Dad. I wanted her to keep the one I had made for her and offered to make a new one for the baby. She wasn't able to come to the shower, but this way she was there in spirit.

And can you believe it? My cactus is still flowering! See that little pink flower in front. And it has a few more buds on it too.

Some Projects and a SkyWatch Friday Post

I went up to Minden Ontario to visit my mother last weekend. She is in a nursing home up there. My brother did the driving. It was a very beautiful day. Lots of sunshine and moderate temperatures. On the way home the sun was setting. I took a photo, from the car, and am I ever glad I did. We haven't seen the sun all week. If you would like to see more SkyWatch photos from around the world, click here.

On the Crochet Front.....I made this sweater for my Mom. It's Kim Guzman's Jiffy Cardigan. This one is real easy and quick. I think she liked it.

I also gave my Mom the lap blanket I had crocheted last week. She liked that too, but she wanted to give it to my sister's son for the upcoming birth of his new baby. That will be another great grandchild for her! I was surprised that she remembered about this new addition to our family. So I told her to keep her blanket and I promised to make another baby blanket using the same stitch that she could give to the baby. It will look similar to this one, but I will have to use some different colours because I ran out of most of these. Mimi just couldn't resist taking a nap on it before I bundled it up and took it up north with me.

An Olympic Finish!

I have been working on this afghan for the past couple of weeks. It's lap sized, designed for someone in a wheelchair. I got the pattern from Talking Crochet. (Sorry I can't get the link to work) It's called 'I love Scraps'. I used a large (very large) ball of off-white yarn and a lot of scraps from my scrap bag. It was nice to be able to use up a lot of them. The coloured portions look like hearts, so it was fitting that I finished it last night, on Valentine's Day, while watching the Olympics. I worked an edge all the way around it. As I was doing that, Alexandre Bilodeau won the first gold medal in an Olympic event on Canadian soil, or should I say 'snow', in Moguls. So even though the edge is done in off-white, I am calling it the 'golden edge', not only because Bilodeau won a gold for Canada, but also because I was so proud of him and the love he showed for his older brother, Frederic, who has Cerebral Palsy.

My Christmas Cactus is now a officially a Valentine's Day Cactus! It is still blooming. I wonder if it will last until Easter.

I've Been AWOL

Hi Everybody!

I think I'm back - for good this time. Had a toothache all week! I went to the dentist last week Monday, and told him that I was experiencing pain when I ate hot or cold foods. So he fixed a filling that had fallen out. He told me that he had to drill really close to the nerve and I might have to have root canal. Oh, no! The dreaded RC word! By the time the freezing had gone out of my jaw the tooth was hurting. It continued to hurt all week long. I tried to manage it with pain killers and oil of cloves etc., but nothing worked. In the end the tooth that had pained me when I ate hot or cold foods, was hurting me all the time! So I called the dentist yesterday and he sent me to a root canal specialist - need I say more? Now I have a hole in my tooth, an abscess that has to drain and I am still in pain! Also, I am not supposed to chew anything on that side of my mouth because food will get into the hole and prevent the abscess from draining. Am I making you sick yet? I have to wait two weeks until he can finish the rest of the root canal. At least he gave me a prescription for Percocet!

We not only had to deal with my toothache, but also with an ailing Oscar as well. We took him to the emergency animal clinic early on Sunday morning. I feared that he had a bladder infection and maybe some crystals as well. It turned out that it was only an infection - no crystals. After a bill of $365.00, we took him home with medications - which he refused to take. But there is more than one way to treat a cat! The way to Oscar's heart is through his stomach, so I bought him his favourite, most expensive food and I am crushing the pills and adding them to his dinner. He has faithfully taken each tablet with a smile!

I also finished his cat bed. I found a pattern on the internet, but did not use it. Instead, I made up my own pattern. I used some awful Red Heart yarn that was in my stash. Right now Oscar is too suspicious of me and he would have nothing to do with the bed. But Felix loved it! Mimi did too, but Felix wouldn't let her near it. When I first put it down on the ground they all sat around it as if it was a giant feeding dish! Wish I had my camera ready at that moment!

Not much quilting has gone on around here, but I did finish the Block Party block for this week. It is called, "Odds and Ends 2". It was quick and easy. And I really like it. The pattern was written for an 8inch block. I made that one in batiks. Then I upsized it to a 12inch block and made that in red, since I have Valentine's Day on my mind......

And here is a shot of Mimi in the bed with Oscar looking on. I am sure she is trying to tell him that it is safe to go in it. Aren't you girl?

"Meow! No way! I want this thing all to myself! Meow!"

Hot Off My Hooks!

Perhaps 'hot' isn't the right word. These items were completed a while ago. I just haven't posted them. Too tired? Too lazy? Lack of interest? Who knows! But now is the time to get on with things. No more procrastinating! No more excuses! It is time to dust off the ol' crochet hooks, the knitting needles and the sewing machine! So without further ado, here are a few of my finished projects.

This afghan is similar to the one I made awhile ago. This one is done in dark green and off white. I started it while I was still a patient at West Park. When I got home, I completed it. It only took me a few hours to do so. I had planned to make several more of these afghans because I love this pattern. It is one of those 'Mile a Minute' ones - done in strips. I crocheted mine together, but they could be sewn too. This afghan is for my DD. Her favourite colour is green. It will go nicely in her TV room.

Then there is this little baby sweater. I only had one ball of this yarn. I think it was something by Red Heart, but I'm not sure. I ran out of it, so I used white to go all the way around the edges. So far this little sweater doesn't have a home yet. I started it while I was in Sunnybrook. I think it took me all of two days to complete. But it has taken me several months to sew the buttons on.
I fell in love with the colours of this yarn when I saw it. So I bought two balls. I can't remember exactly what it's called or who makes it. I think it might be by Bernat. This little sweater was also crocheted while I was at Sunnybrook. I was very bored at that hospital. Can you tell? I made a blue outfit while there too. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of that one. The woman who cleaned my room (I think her name was Velma) saw me crocheting one day and got all excited! She had just learned how to crochet and was making a baby blanket. She asked me if she could bring it in the following day so that I could see it and maybe help her with the pattern because she seemed to be stuck. It was nice to have a crocheting 'friend' while I was there. She asked me if the baby sweater was difficult to make. I told her it worked up very quickly. Then she asked me if she could commission me to make her one. Her sister was expecting a baby boy the following week. I told her that I very seldom sell my items, but if I had time I would love to make her new nephew a little blue outfit. I got some blue yarn and started crocheting. A few days later the baby was born. I gave her the finished sweater, hat and booties. I had finished them just in time! She was so excited and promised to get a photo of the little guy in his new outfit. Unfortunately I never did get a photo, because I was moved to West Park the following day.

I have a few quilt projects that I am working on. I will put them in the next post.

Baby Outfit - Finished!

It's been a long time since I posted anything. After my hard drive crashed, I was afraid to even use my computer, let alone post anything. And the camera program was totally missing! I didn't know how I would be able to get the photos out of my camera and onto this blog. But now... can you believe it? I installed my photo program without help! Last week I went to a computer place to try and buy a new program, (I didn't know what I needed) but the guy there just looked at me as if I had an eye in the middle of my forehead and told me that I should already have the program disk at home. Apparently it came with my camera! Duh!

So tonight I finally looked for it and actually found it amongst all the old disks and other stuff dating back to the first computer I ever bought! Good thing I never throw anything out! Well, maybe that is not really a good thing. It makes for a lot of useless stuff lying around!

But, I am happy to say that I was able to download the program without any problems! So now I can show you my latest baby outfit. My sister asked me to make this for her new grandson. I guess that would make him my grand nephew - cool! He came into the world last Tuesday and his name is Theodore Quinn. He weighed a whopping 10 pounds at birth! I hope this little sweater will fit him! I made it in a 6-month size. The pattern came out of a Coats and Clark baby booklet called. "Soft and Sweet". The yarn was Softee Baby by Bernat. As soon as I finished it I started on a new sweater set. Busy hands are happy hands! Hope to be able to show you another finished baby set soon.

The Latest Baby Blanket is Finished!

I haven't shown you much of my creative endeavours lately. That is not to say that I have been idle. Just that I wasn't able to download any photos on the computer here at the Rehab Centre. But yesterday I had an opportunity to go home and put the photos onto my home computer. So here is a picture of a baby blanket that I made last week. I used self-striping yarn by Bernat. My sister bought me the yarn so that I would have something to do while I'm here. The blanket turned out very soft. I have enough yarn to make two more!!!!

Felix!

Hi Folks!

My name is Felix. If you thought my brother, Oscar was adorable, just take a look at me! I am the handsome one in the family! Meow! Also the smart one! I got all the brains! (Sorry Oscar!) I look after my owner and keep her safe! You will always find me, sleeping quietly beside her, either on her bed or right beside it. When she is relaxing in her chair, I like to sit on the arm rest and watch her crochet. Her fingers move like lightening! I imagine that I am chasing them, but I know that she would not like it if I bit her hand while she was working! See, what I mean by being smart! Meow! Her fingers move so fast, in fact, that she was able to finished another afghan. I love this one! I think it's my favourite! What do you think? It is black, gray and dark red! Very masculine! She made it especially for her DS! He has just moved into a new apartment and he is decorating his place. This afghan will look great on his black leather couch! Too bad, I was looking forward to sitting on it, but now his cat, Alpha, will be able to do so! I know Alpha will love it as much as I do! Talk to you all later! Meow! Love, Felix.

The Christmas Ripple is Done!

I finished the Christmas Ripple this morning. I thought that I wanted to finish everything quickly, so I worked feverishly on it, but now that it's done, I miss it! The weight and warmth of it on my lap were comforting and reassuring. I may have to do another one! But there are also some socks and other Christmas items that I want to finish before Santa comes! So many projects, so little time!

I used Red Heart yarn for this throw, which I got at Walmart in huge balls, so it was relatively inexpensive to make. The pattern is my own design. I did not plan for this to become an heirloom! It was just supposed to be a fun project for the season. I like to make something new each year and this year, this was it!

Mimi likes the afghan, I think. She was up on it as soon as I spread it out to take a photo! But then, she usually likes everything I make. In fact, she thinks that I make everything especially for her!

Mimi: Don't you?
Me: Not always, but you are welcome to sit on any afghan that I make!
Mimi: Thanks! (aside) Little does she know that I don't need her permission! I just sit anywhere I please!
Me: Hey! Don't think I didn't hear that, you little ball of fur! Good thing you are my favourite feline!
Mimi: Meow!

The Pink Baby Outfit is Finished!!!

Hooray! I finally sewed the buttons on and added the ribbons! Another UFO finished! I have no idea who this is going to. I just made it because I found some yarn at Dollarama for $1 and I wanted to try it out. I was pleased with the way it worked up. It's Phentex Merit. I wasn't expecting much, but I think the outfit turned out very well. The pattern is from the Leisure Arts booklet, called "Layettes". Now all we have to do is wait for someone to have a baby girl!

I Have Finished the Colourful Ripple!

This was so much fun to do! Each row was different (and colourful!) and I was able to use up a lot of left over yarn that was cluttering up my craft room. It worked up quickly too!

Here is a closeup.
I still have yarn left over.
Think I'll make another one of these.

The Ripple Afghan is Finished!

I finally finished the ripple afghan for my bed. It was a very easy pattern, but it took me a long time to complete it. I think it was a bit boring - I usually like a more challenging pattern! But it turned out very nice. Now I can take a nap without disturbing the whole bed. I can just throw this over me and be toasty warm! Mimi taught me that! Thanks Mimi!

Crocheting by the Pool

What a beautiful summer day! The temperature was just right and there was not a cloud in the sky! I took my crocheting outside and worked on my ripple afghan for awhile. Nothing is more relaxing! The bougainvillea overhead! The water gurgling beside me! A tall, cool drink by my side! I felt as if I was on a tropical island! This is living!













My original bougainvillea did not make it through the winter last year. It succumbed to lack of watering! My fault! So I bought myself a new plant. It is fantastic! Bright pink cascading branches hanging above me! I will have to take this one inside in September and remember to water it regularly!















Yellow pansies and blue ageratum fill this huge pot! There is also some aspargus fern, a yellow flowering maple and a couple of lime-green sweet potato vines.

A Little Warmth on a Cold Day

I've been working hard to keep the local school kids warm this winter. So far we have not had any really cold weather, but tonight the mercury will dip well below the freezing point. The kids will need warm mitts and hats tomorrow. I will take my stash over to the school this afternoon.

Total: 10 hats, 14 pairs of mitts, 12 scarves