No sir, I don't like it.

I was originally inspired to make a granny afghan by this photo (not the softy...the afghan in the background). And then I saw this. I was completely smitten. But then I had second thoughts. After all, where would I put this masterpiece, assuming I ever finished it? A bright red, green, yellow, and blue afghan would definitely stand out in my current home decor. So then I thought that maybe I should try making a granny afghan in a bit more subdued colors. Here's what I came up with for my first square.

It's okay, but I'm not in love. And if I'm going to crochet that many granny squares, I want to be in love with the project. So I think I've decided to just stick with the color scheme I fell in love with. I'll figure out where to put the darn thing when it's finished.

As for the yarn I used in my test square, maybe it would make a nice ripple afghan.

Belated Happy Father's Day, to my dad, and to yours!

On my coffee table...

From the bottom, up:
1) The Summer 2008 issue of Interweave Knits, because I can knit now! I'm so excited! Pics to come...
2) June 2008 BHG. Good recipes (I think I'll actually try a couple), lots of decorating inspiration, and a large article on gardening (surprise, surprise) which I probably should put to good use but probably won't.
3) Encyclopedia of Crochet, checked out from my local library. A pretty good selection of stitches, granny squares, etc., but the projects were a little uninspiring. Probably b/c the book was published in 2002.
4) The Crochet Stitch Bible, recent purchase from Amazon. I don't know if I would necessary call it the crochet bible, but it does contain a lot of stitches, granny squares, edgings, and even some tunisian crochet. This is not a project book. It's a stitch book. It's not all-inclusive, but I'm not sure any book could capture every possible crochet stitch. Definitely a handy reference.
5) Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker, checked out from the library. This is one I may have to buy. It's a decent stitch reference guide, and there are several projects I would like to make from this book. As a matter of fact...
6) ...I've already started one. I'll wait until it's done to show you which one I picked.

Finished!

Do you hear it? Trumpets are trumpeting, angels are singing, people are cheering...I finished a project!

This is my finished tiramisu blanket. I don't know how, but this blanket just sort of happened. During American Idol performances I wasn't interested in, commercials, riding in the car, and sitting outside in the evenings with my husband enjoying the gorgeous weather this past week, it happened. I started it on April 21 (on the way to quilt guild in Pittsburg...KS), which means it took me just under a month from start to finish. That has to be some kind of record for me. And I really like how it turned out. The yarn is a bulky weight (Bernat Softee Chunky), so the blanket is nice and thick. I used 5/8" ribbon instead of the 1/2" that the pattern calls for, but it worked out because the yarn doubled over as I wove it around the blanket, so the shiny side of the ribbon shows on both sides. I know I could have been more imaginative with my color choices, but I liked Alicia's version. Plus it will work for either a baby boy or baby girl gift, which is great because we all know I'm not very good at planning ahead for baby showers.

This is the rosebush in my backyard (and my dog guarding the backyard, which she does fabulously until a trespasser actually approaches...then she hightails it to safety). It's absolutely bursting with blooms right now. Now, I don't want you to get the impression that I had anything to do with the number of roses on this bush. Quite the opposite, actually. Shortly before I took this picture, this bush was threatening to take over the yard. But I was feeling a bit frustrated. The city had our water shut off all day. All day. No laundry, no dish washing, no watering the dog, no washing your #%&*@ face or brushing your teeth. No washing your thrift store finds so you can photo them for your blog. So like I said, I was frustrated. So I took out my aggression on the rosebush. Pruning can be very cathartic, you know. So anyway, even though you're not supposed to prune roses in the spring, I pruned my little heart out until the rose tree became more of a bush. Not only do we prune liberally and without regard to the bush's health, but we have yet to feed or water this rosebush. It's invincible. It's also threatening to take over the neighbor's yard, but I figure that's their problem. Sheba and I have enough on our hands defending the territory we've got, be it from trespassers or renegade rosebushes.

One last thing. I have quilt guild tonight, so I'm going to miss the American Idol finale. However, my husband has promised to tape (that's right...tape...as in VCR tape...no DVR for us) it for me, so I can watch it when I get home. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle the suspense. I finally got my vote in for David Cook last night at 11:07 on the 47th try, but I voted dang it. I get the feeling he needed by vote...I'm just hoping that fact that I couldn't get in for 3 hours is a good sign.

What do you know...

Practice really does make perfect. Well, maybe not perfect yet, but definitely improving. This is my "take along" crochet project - one that I don't have to think about too much and that only uses one skein of yarn at a time, making it very portable. (Free pattern here. And if you don't already read her blog, shame on you.)
The reason I'm so impressed with myself is that it's actually staying pretty square. Usually my crochet projects tend to shrink as I go along, forming more of pyramid shape. Or trapezoid, if you want to get technical. But this one is pretty much square. It's only taken what seems like 100,000 hours of crocheting to get to this point, but hey, I've got nothing but time, right?!

Here are some pics of my niece and nephew from our trip to TN.

My nephew loves to drive his car around the yard. Until he saw the neighbor kids buzzing around on 4-wheelers. Then suddenly his car wasn't fast enough.

And here he is after he had just picked everyone a dandelion, explaining that we should save the dandelions for when we get married, and after the wedding keep them and show them to people. I could barely keep a straight face. Where does he come up with this stuff? I didn't have the heart to tell him I was already married.And my niece, who's at the age where she's just happy to be fed and get some attention. This was a rare moment when she wasn't being held. Her momma was just to my left, hence the big smile. And yes, I made that pink & white ripple afghan. I'm so happy she actually uses it.

American Idol results in a few hours. I can't help myself - this is one of the few shows that I get into. It's one of the reasons I've been doing more crocheting in the evenings...it's hard to hear the TV over the sewing machine. I'm pulling for David Cook, but they're all good. Let's just hope that tonight it's not interrupted for severe weather updates. I heard on the radio that the meteorologist got a bunch of hate e-mail for interrupting American Idol last night. Poor guy, he can't help that a funnel cloud decided to form between 7:00 & 8:00! Maybe I should e-mail him again and apologize. Just kidding, people.

Intervention, please

Seriously, people, it's time. I have a problem. I can't stop starting new projects. Typically I don't worry too much about having too many UFO's laying around, but it's really starting to get out of hand. I thought about making a list, sort of like a confession, but I'm not sure I can remember everything, so I'll save that for another day. For now, here's my latest:

It's the Babette blanket (pattern by Kathy Merrick and available from Interweave Crochet). I know I shouldn't have, but can you blame me? Take a look at the flickr group. Who can resist? Not me. Obviously. This picture is from last week...I know have all 50 2-round squares finished along with 20 4-round squares. Lots to go, but I'm making progress. Not that I'll ever finish it, because, ya know, that's not what I do.

More good news. I dropped my cell phone in a sink full of water on Friday, and the phone no longer functions. The good news about that is that I got a new phone. Isn't it pretty? It's called a rockr, which is cool, but I haven't "rocked" with it yet. My sister-in-law is 16...I'll have her figure that part out.
It does have a 2 megapixel camera on it, which I used to take this picture. A little blurry, but I think that's from enlarging it. And because I can't hold the damn thing still. Whatev.
This is my sad little camera. It's 5 or 6 years old, and a few months ago I dropped it and broke the battery cover (hence the scotch tape). I know, I'm hard on electronics. It's about time for a new camera anyway.

Last but not least, I got a new pantograph in the mail today for the longarm, so I decided to try it out.
It's called feathered curls. I'm really liking it. I think it could work on variety of quilts. I'm really digging how it looks on the back of the quilt.

This is a view from underneath the quilt machine. So if you've never sat under a quilt machine, this is what it looks like. Come by some time and I'll let you sit under my machine. It's sort of like sitting under a table covered by a tablecloth. Except when you sit under a table there is less of a chance of sitting on a straight pin. Yes, I've done that.

We're off on a long weekend to a graduation and to visit my folks, so the blog will be quiet until I get back next week. Have good weekend!

The nerdiest way to spend a Friday night

I'm sure all of you loyal readers out there (all two of you... hi mom!) are dying to know how someone who leads as glamorous a life as I do (yeah, right) spends a typical Friday or Saturday evening. Never one to leave my fans unsatisfied, I now give you the answer to your question.

That's right, I crochet. Or stitch down a binding or possibly hand quilt if I'm feeling chilly & ambitious (see the stuff to the right of the basket). Usually by the time the weekend gets here, I'm too pooped to do anything but sit on the couch, and these projects flow seamlessly into my weekend routine. Typically I will do one of these three activities while watching a Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Star Wars movie - I have a thing for movies (or books) that are part of a series. Love that. And depending on what kind of a day I've had, I might throw a nice adult beverage into the mix. Just one though... two seem to affect the results of my handiwork.

The crochet project I'm currently working I found here at Bella Dia, one of my fave blogs. It's fairly easy - just double crochet until your eyes cross. I did manage to screw it up - I didn't work on it for awhile, and when I picked it back up I couldn't remember exactly how to start a new row. So a few of my rows are a little short, but no worries, I just added stitches in the next couple of rows to even things out. It sort of looks like someone took a little bite out of the side, but I'll be damned if I was going to rip all of that out and start over. A couple of rows of edging crocheted around the whole thing will help camouflage my mistake. Yeah, sounds like a plan.This is my hand quilting project - my very first. I wanted to start with something simple so that I could concentrate on making my stitches even and not worry about quilting through thick seams. So I used a piece of cheater convenience fabric (this one's from Moda's Sanctuary collection by 3 Sisters), basted it together with a batt and backing, and went to town. I was pleasantly surprised that hand quilting is not nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be (atleast not the simple quilting I'm doing), but it definitely isn't quick either. However, as I said before, it's a perfect complement to my couch sitting time. And that's something I definitely don't want to rush.

Frenzied

That's how I'm feeling right now. With Christmas looming not-so-far in the distance, I'm longarm quilting like crazy and trying to stay on top of my own projects. It doesn't help that I keep starting new ones...I just can't help myself! Every time we get in a new shipment of fabric or a new magazine, I dream up yet another thing to occupy my time. So my goal for the rest of the month is to finish up what I've got before I move on to anything else. We'll see how that goes.

Here's what is going on with all of the red and white circles I appliqued last weekend.

This is my very first stack-n-whack quilt. The stack-n-whack blocks were suprisingly easy to put together. If you look too closely, you'll see that they don't line up perfectly, but you can't tell from a normal viewing distance =). I've got the fabric up on the shop's website, with the kit for this quilt coming soon.

Last week I had to make an impromptu trip to Wichita to have my longarm machine serviced, and I just happened to need some ribbon, so I stopped in Micheal's. While I was there, I took a spin through the yarn aisles and found Lion's new organic cotton yarn. This stuff is sooo soft. There are all kinds of free projects on the Lion website, but I decided to start another afghan.

The pattern is simple enough. It's single crochet, working in the back loops. It's going to be so snuggly when it's finished. However, the yarn was $6.99/skein, and it doesn't go very far. So this one will be snuggly but small. Maybe another afghan for my sister's newest addition to the family (any day now!). The quilt in the background is a Turning Twenty that was done in the Scrappy Dots line from Judy Rothermel...still one of my favorites. I love polka dots. In fact, I just got some new ones in the other day that are a-dorable...more on that in my next post.

"If I knew you were comin' I'd a baked a cake..."

Yep, I baked. Just a regular ol' cake mix - nothing fancy. The Halloween sprinkles and cupcake papers are to blame. Who can resist sprinkles?

After the sprinkles and cupcake papers made their way into my shopping cart, I got the bright idea to make orange frosting, so I picked up some food coloring. The back of the box said to make orange, use 6 drops of yellow and 2 drops of red. To make a long story short, I would say about 600 yellow drops, 200 red drops, and 30 minutes of stirring later, I finally had orange frosting. I had no idea it was going to be such an ordeal.

I also frosted half of the cupcakes with chocolate, but there was a bit of an incident on the way to the car this morning, and the chocolate-frosted cupcakes are in no shape to have their picture taken.

And because I have nothing better to do (ha!), I started another ripple crochet project. I was going to teach myself how to knit, but I wasn't in the mood on Saturday night to learn anything new. I was, however, in the mood to crochet something, so this is what I started. I had put in some rows in other colors, but after much discussion my husband I decided I should just stick with blue & brown.

I was very excited today when the UPS man brought me this:
It's the new Sew Girls line from Loralie. I can't wait to make a bag or sewing kit or something out of this stuff - I think it's just hilarious. My favorite are the tomato pin-cushion and button bras. They're available in the shop's website, along with the You Golf Girl! panel.

Last but not least, I finished sewing down the binding on a quilt last night during Monday night football! I'm pretty sure I've shown you this quilt before, but that's when it was just a quilt top. I'm usually not a very flowery person, but I love the borders on this one. And the gingham in the star points.

While I was baking up a storm and cursing at the frosting last night, my husband was busy making chicken & wild rice soup. I didn't get a picture because it disappeared so fast. We were hungry, and it was good. I got the recipe from a recipe notebook I got as a wedding gift. Knowing that I'm not much of a cook (although I'm trying), my friend's mom (she's an amazing cook) put together a 3-ring binder of quick & easy recipes for me - everything from appetizers to desserts. So without further ado, here's the soup!

Chicken & Wild Rice soup:
1/2 c. shredded carrots
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped green bell pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. half and half
1 c. water
1 10oz. can condensed chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice (I got the kind you just microwave in the bag...it took 90 seconds)
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2-3 cups diced cooked chicken (I'm guessing here... we added this to the recipe).

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and saute the carrots, celery, green bell pepper, & onion for about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, salt, & pepper. Add the half & half, water, chicken broth, chicken, & rice. Bring to boil. Turn down the heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Delicioso!

This recipe says it makes 5 servings, but I would say it's more like 4. We're going to double the recipe next time, because we ended up using half an onion, half of the bell pepper, and (wait for it....) half of the half-and-half. Which felt like a waste. I always make extra anyway so we can have leftovers. I wouldn't want to have to cook two days in a row...

Back to the drawing board

Here is the halloween costume I made for myself. Sorry for the headless photo.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's HUGE. You're supposed to put elastic in the waist, which I haven't done, but it would still be really big. A better "belt" would help, but to me it looks more like a female Star Wars jedi than a Spartan lady. A Spartan lady wouldn't be wearing yellow-toed footie socks either, but I think the socks are the least of the problems with this. I'm very disappointed, because I don't feel like what I made looks anything like the picture on the pattern.

Maybe I'm just missing a cape and some hair extentions.

My husband suggested taking up the "sleeves" (it's supposed to be sleeveless). That helps, but then it gets all bunchy in the chest.

So I decided to just scrap the whole bodice and start over with something I'd done before that is more what I had in mind.

So this is the new bodice that I've made. Now I just have to figure out how to attach it to the back of the costume and take up the skirt about 4 inches. Oh, and put in a zipper or velcro or something because I won't be able to fit the costume over my head once I put this new, more fitted bodice on it.

On a happier, less frustrating note, I declared myself finished with my pink & white ripple afghan. Is it very big? No. It is square? Definitely not. (Although photoing it from the smaller end does make it look more square). Will it keep a baby warm? Certainly. I figure there's no sense it blocking it since it's just going to get washed so much. And I know my sister won't block it. That's just not something a mother of a toddler and a newborn has time for.

The ripple stitch pattern comes from this book. I can't remember exactly which stitch I used (and I don't have the book with me), but it was a crochet stitch shown in red, white, & green. I am definitely planning to make another project from this book sometime in the near future. This time, however, I might try knitting. I downloaded and printed this knitting tutorial the other day. Now all I need are knitting needles and time to practice (ha). There isn't a yarn shop anywhere near here, so I think I'll stop next time I go to visit my parents and get some good needles and yarn. I could order online, but I have no idea what to order. If there is one thing I've learned from crocheting, it's that yarn and fabric have something major in common...you get what you pay for. My Wal-mart yarn shopping is a thing of the past. Some bad habits are easier to break than others =)