My first attempt at crocheting

Actually this is not my FIRST attempt at crocheting. My Grandma taught me how YEARS ago...like 25 or so. When my grandma taught me to crochet I was so excited. I carried my yarn around and made LONG chains and sometimes did a single crochet stitch. My Mom taught me how to make a cute blanket...also SEVERAL years ago....BUT I never learned how to read a pattern and never really knew what the stitches were called.

I have wanted to learn to crochet for awhile now. I am enjoying learning to quilt, but I like to have a project that I can work on away from home...like up on the mountain at camp. I saw this pattern and decided to give it a try. I found some pretty great instructions, including videos on 'how to crochet' here. I was going to make this for my little guy, I thought that if I used a slightly larger crochet hook, it would be big enough for him....NOPE. So, I made a cute little flower and sent it to my sister for her baby girl. I wish my little niece was here so that I could get a picture of the hat on the model :)

Now I am working on tweaking the pattern to make a hat for my little guy. When I finish it I'll post a picture.

A new clothes line

I told my husband that I would like him to put up a clothes line for me to dry clothes on. After a quick glance to see if I was serious, he went to the garage and pulled out some line that he says is clothes line wire. Not sure if that is true, but if he says it is, it must be!!

He told me that he would make a quick line between two of our trees and we would 'try' it for awhile and if we decided we(or mostly I) like it he will work on something bigger. So far, I love it. My husband loves it too. He says, "the more money we save, the more money we have for cool gear!" He is a gear guy...loves his biking gear, camping gear, hiking gear...and so on and so on.

Here is our quick clothes line. I'll let you know if we ever get anything more. I have read that the clothes dryer accounts for ~6% of the average electric bill. We'll see if we actually save that much by line drying.

'Wild Thing' Quilt

I finished Hunter's quilt!! This is only the second quilt that I have pieced and quilted on the sewing machine. I am trying to get brave enough to try stippling, but until then, I will continue straight stitching:) For Hunter's quilt I used Camille's 'wild thing' pattern.

This quilt was a lot of fun! I wish the backing was a little lighter, but I used what Hunter chose. I used Moda's Arcadia fabric purchased from Cotton Patch Quilting. Right now they have the Arcadia charm packs on sale for $4(a GREAT deal).

One handmade Christmas present can be marked off my list. Now, if I can wait that long to give it to him. I'm going to have to hide it so that he will forget about it:)

Back of Quilt

Ruffle Pillow

I made this pillow this morning for a birthday party that we will be going to tonight. I think it turned out pretty cute. I the 'D' isn't actually as dark as the pictures make it look. I wanted the 'D' in the bottom corner, but now I wish I would have moved it in just a little...oh well...you live and learn right? I'm also thinking, MAYBE, I should have just done the D in white...what do you think?

Grocery Bag Dispenser

I found a tutorial for this at Moda Bake Shop. I Love that site!! They have SO many fun projects!! In Rachel's tutorial, she said she made hers in an hour. This one that I made took me at least two hours. BUT I was very happy about it considering I am a VERY newbie to the sewing world!!

My Mom will be getting this in the mail for her birthday in the next few days:) Can't wait to make one for myself:)

p.s. I used a Moda Soiree charm pack for this one. I ordered the charm pack from cotton patch quilting(wonderful company, great prices and super fast shipping!!). I wish this had been on sale when I ordered....might be sold out before I can order again:( oh well, maybe they will still have some on sale next time I order.

Letter Pillow

I made this little pillow for my niece today. I wish I would have rounded the edges a little, to avoid the cat ears on all corners. Oh well...there are a few things I would do differently next time:) I used the same fabric for the 'K' and the back of the pillow.

Mother's Day Gift

Just thought I'd post a picture of what I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. I traced the hands of my 4 boys(the baby was NOT very cooperative) and made a cute pillow keepsake for Grandma:) This was a Fun and Easy project, however, a little time consuming:) (for me anyway).