The Afghan from Hell

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Yes, you read the title right!  I have always wanted to learn how to crochet a ripple afghan, you know, the ones that EVERYONE has on the back of their sofas?  In the 70's they were orange, brown and yellow, as seen on "The 70's Show" BUT I didn't want mine in those colors!!  I wanted one that would remind me of Spring.  One that would reflect bring colors that we see as the first flowers are making their way through the cold earth ..... daffodils, hyacinths, and primrose.

 

 

I started this afghan exactly on January 27, 2012 ..... yep, I know that was the exact date as I record all my knitting and crochet projects on Ravelry.  If you have never heard of Ravelry check it out!  So many patterns, inspiration and great people.  You can see it here. 

 

Now, the reason why it took so long wasn't because the pattern was difficult.  It was the exact OPPOSITE!  The pattern is so easy to mindlessly work with, that I was bored very quickly.  If I am bored, wellllll then I never feel like picking it up because it's too boring ..... hence the title "Afghan from Hell". 

 

 

 

So I plucked away at it and plucked away at it and come the new year, I was determined to finish it.  You see I have a rule.  I will not allow myself to start another knitting/crochet project until the one I am working on is finished.  I get too easily sidetracked and excited for new projects when browsing websites and patterns.  If I didn't follow this rule, I would have hundreds of unfinished projects floating around all over the house!

 

 

So the morning of January 28, 2013 ..... exactly one year and one day, I sewed in the last of the ends, laid out the afghan and admired the bright colors which do remind me of spring.  I am extremely pleased with it and look forward to cool-ish spring mornings when I can sit on the porch and wrap it around me while sipping my cup of coffee. 

 

 

Now that it's finished ..... I have been drooling over which project to start next.  Would I make this pattern again?  Definitely.  The color possibilities are endless but I would make sure next time that I finished it before a year was up!

 

 

 

Happy knitting/crocheting, have a wonderful day and remember to give your loved ones a hug! 

 

Adding to the Fruit Trees

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Friends of ours, Barb and Dave, own the local greenhouse here in town.  In the spring and summer they sell everything from flowers to trees to bushes to shrubs to vegetable seedlings to soil.  They then close up for the months of July and August.  

They re-open again in September and sell fall flowers such as Mums and pumpkins, ornamental squash, straw, cornstalks and anything that one would use to decorate their home for the season.

Locals love their greenhouse and products as Barb and Dave take great care in providing only the best for their friends and customers.  The other day, the hubster and I stopped in to check out their new stock and say hi as we don't see much of them when the shop is open.

Around the corner I noticed an adorable and very healthy looking tree.. a Redwing American Cranberry Bush.  The leaves were already a glorious red and they looked almost like a maple leaf.  Well I just had to have it and the price was perfect!  Only $14.95!!!  This bush was already five feet tall!

We have been slowly adding fruit trees to the property and this will be a wonderful addition.  The berries are edible .... just imagine .... my own homegrown cranberries for Thanksgiving dinner!  That will, however, have to be next year as the berries have already gone through their cycle.

Loading it into the trunk, we drove our new little baby home but a heavy frost was threatening that evening and since I didn't want the leaves to fall off just yet, we brought the bush indoors for the next couple of nights.

Yesterday the threat of deep frosty nights had passed and it was time to put the bush in the ground.

After digging a hole big enough, I added a bag of Miracle Grow soil to the bottom to give the bush some extra nutrients for a good head start.

I then added a bucket of fresh water and dropped the bush into the hole.  Finishing up, I gave it another good bucket of water.

Hopefully the deer will leave the bush alone and let it grow into a large, fruit producing tree that we can enjoy for many years to come!

Do you add fruit trees to your property?  If you do, which ones have been successful?

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Revamped Storage

Pin It Since you all know that my Mom and I LOVE cruising yard sales and garage sales, you can just imagine the items we grab but also pass up due to space limitations!

If only I had a place to store and put everything that I see at sales that I would love to bring home....but I don't have that amount of space.....AND trying to live more simply should mean living with less stuff!

I try to be extremely selective in my yard sale buys these days.  I scour them looking for only those items that are on my list.....my Mom does the same thing....so....

not needing a little shelving unit (because she had one in her kitchen close to the side door) I spotted a cute little table that I thought would be perfect in that spot.  Now the shelving unit she was using had seen better days so we grabbed it up for $3.00.

The previous owners were quite creative in their paint selection!

My Mom's kitchen is a soft yellow on the top half and wainscoting on the bottom half.  Having some of the soft yellow paint left, we decided to give the little shelving unit a quick sanding and apply a couple of layers of yellow.

We both think it turned out quite cute and the side 'pockets' (which I think were originally used for magazines) nicely holds her wooden cutting board on one side and her umbrella (since it is close to the door) on the other side.

Now as mentioned earlier, she didn't need this little unit but it nicely replaced the one she had, it is solid wood whereas the other one was pressboard/chipboard so I think it was a smart buy.

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Did You Guess Right?

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Well, it is Monday...did you guess right on Friday?  One person did!  I showed you this picture....

Okay, so yes, I am still plucking away at my Mom's back patio.  It keeps me busy and I am enjoying fiddling around with such a small property.  

Last week we decided to add ambiance.  Lit ambiance that is.  

She has no outdoor lighting at the back so when enjoying the cool breeze after the sun sets and the humidity has been at 100 all day, it is the perfect spot to sit except we have no light.  

Do you know how difficult it is to sit in the pitch black and try and carry on a conversation with someone who is sitting right across the table from you but you can't see them?

So wanting to keep costs down, as I always like to do, I came across this idea from Diane at In My Own Style.  I thought a few of these lanterns would be perfect.  I have had my eye out for broom handles/shovel handles and glass hurricanes or vases that would work for this project when we have been out to yard sales and rummage sales.  

There never has been a shortage of old wooden broom handles that I know of except when you need them!  I do remember where I have some stashed at home and will definitely be making these once I am back on the old homestead.

First you need to gather the supplies.  An old broom handle, a cleaned out tuna can (I used a cleaned out cat food tin can...there is no shortage of those around here with my Mom's two cats!), a hurricane style glass vase/bowl, spray paint in a color of your choice ( I used the cheapest I could find), a screw and a connector.  Diane used a copper connector but I found a cheaper alternative...a plastic one!  I hope it works just as well.

I needed to pre-drill a hole at the top of the broom handle but unfortunately my Mom's battery powered drill was not charged so I did it the old fashioned way....just screwed the screw in once I had punched a hole through the bottom of the tin can with a nail...Diane used an awl but I wasn't that fancy.  

Screwing the adapter onto the male part of the broom handle, I then screwed the tin can to the top of the broom handle.  The plastic adapter worked well!  Woo hoo ... that is a difference of about $3.50 for a copper adapter compared to $1.50 for a plastic one.

Do you see how it is coming together now?

Next came the spray paint......I stuck with trusty old black....it matches my Mom's bistro set anyway.  You could use any color you wished or you could even make the broom handle a different color from the vase/bowl holder....that would be a neat idea too.

Once dried, carefully place the hurricane vase/bowl in the cat food tin can, add a lit candle and we have instant light!

Now off to make 5 more.  

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Just a Peek

Pin It I have been so busy lately that my creating/crafting/sewing has gone by the wayside a little but here is a sneak peek of something I want to work on this Saturday when I finally have a day off!

What do you think it could be?  I don't think you will be able to figure it out but one never knows!  Take a guess and see if you are right when I post the final product on Monday.  

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Time to Mod Podge

Pin It I found these at a yard sale last week and snatched them up for 10 cents a piece not knowing what I was going to do with them.  They were such a great price that I just couldn't resist.

Then Saturday, I found these at another yard sale.  Since the set was only $1.50, they would be perfect for our main washroom.  A candle will be lovely sitting on the little tray attached tray.  Planning on making some changes to our decor once I am back home, I knew that I could change the little wooden trays up a bit to match.

I am not sure how Bob is going to feel about having such a girly girl washroom...especially the main washroom but he usually doesn't complain too much as long as he doesn't have to do any of the work.

Stripping off the plastic and paper liner that was on the tray proved to be very difficult as you can see in the top right hand corner.  I had to use a scraper and some warm water to get the sticky goo under the paper off the tray but they finally came clean.

I then cut my pink rose fabric the correct size to fit nicely into the trays.  Giving the bottom of the tray a coat of mod podge, then laying the piece of fabric down and applying more mod podge to the top of the fabric, I assumed I was done and just had to wait for it to dry.  Well that it wasn't going to be that easy.

Unfortunately once the mod podge dried, you could see through the flowery fabric and the dark green paint with white paint splattered underneath....NOT what I wanted but I wanted to use this fabric!

So I once again cut three pieces of the same fabric and applied those on top of the already applied fabric in the trays.  Once dried, the fabric underneath was faintly visible through the top fabric but I didn't mind the look.

These trays will be perfect to hold my nail polish, makeup and brushes once the washroom is finished.

Well now I am hoping to find a few more items for the washroom at yard sales before I head back home.  Hee, hee.

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

The Jelly Roll Race Quilt

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Well I did it. I have been wanting to try the great Jelly Roll Race Quilt Challenge for a while.  I have searched many websites and the idea was more or less the same on all of them.


Open a jelly roll and start sewing.  

Sorry for this blurry picture.  I almost had forgotten to take a picture of the jelly roll and had started to untie it.  Then I had to take it quickly as I was determined to finish the quilt top by dinner time and it was already pushing 3pm.


This is a bright jelly roll.  Not really my style of fabric but it was cheap.....on clearance at Walmart for $4.00.  Perfect for trying this challenge without spending a lot of money in case I didn't like how it turned out.


Taking the jelly roll apart, I stacked the different fabrics in piles and arranged them in the order I found most appealing.

Now for those of you who have not heard of the 1600 Jelly Roll Quilt, you start sewing the jelly roll strips end to end in the order you placed them.  Once done, you will have a very long strip of fabric approximately 1600 inches long....a BIG pile like this!

Next cut 20 inches off of the beginning of the long strip of fabric.  It makes no difference which end.  This is an important step as it will stagger your seams.

Now find the two ends of the strip and put right sides together.  Start at one end and sew the whole length...when you get to the end, cut the loop.  You will now have a very long strip that is 2 jellyroll strips wide.  This step took me approximately 45 minutes!

A little side note....you can press the seams open but it isn't really necessary as they won't be in the way.

Now, find the two ends of the long strip again and put right sides together and begin sewing again.  Don't forget when you get to the end loop, cut it.  You will now have a strip that is a 4 jellyroll strips wide.  

Again, find the two ends of this long strip and put the right sides together and sew away!  Once you cut the loop at the end, you will have an 8 jellyroll strips wide strip.  

Next, join the two ends of the long strip, put right sides together, sew and cut the loop at the end.  Your strip will be 16 jellyroll strips wide.  

One more time people!  Find the two ends of the long strip, put right sides together, sew all the way down, cut the loop.  You will end up with a 32 jellyroll strips wide quilt top!

It worked!  I ended up with a quilt top approximately 50" x 64".  I am going to use this as the 'center' of my quilt.  I still wish to add a border but need to find the perfect matching fabric for that...or maybe I will go with a bright solid.  I haven't decided yet.

This challenge was fun and I will definitely make another one.  Dinner was about 30 minutes later than usual so not too bad.  It took a little over 2 and a half hours.  The task that took the most time was refilling the bobbin!  Next time I will make sure I have four filled bobbins ready to pop in and out.  

Sir Humphrey seems to like it too!  

There was a contest held a while back...sorry I don't have the link to share....it was just something I ran across while researching about the 1600 Jelly Roll Quilts and the quilt that was made the quickest was by a lady who finished hers in 35 minutes!  Now that machine must have been a humming!

There is another variation here if you would prefer to make a rag jelly roll quilt.  I like the looks of that one as well so will give it a try this winter with some cozy wintery fabric.  

Have you tried the Jelly Roll Quilt Challenge yet?  Such a fun and fast way to make a quilt for that special someone.  Remember to give your loved ones a hug!