artsy-crafty babe

i couldn't have asked for more

We had a lovely, lovely holiday.  It was low key and relaxed, my favorite way to spend a holiday.  On Christmas day we never left the house.  We ate good food and spent the entire day lounging around playing with toys.  The kids gave us a little Christmas surprise - they all slept past 8 am on Christmas morning!  Santa was very good to us.  The days following involved an impromptu game night, a trip to the movies with family, and lots of together time.  Love, peace, and joy, I couldn't have asked for more.

merry christmas to me

I've been a really good girl, or so I think so ;-)  After finishing up yet another too big sweater (ugh, I'm not ready to talk about it), I needed a little morale booster, so I ordered myself some yarn.  Oh yes, what yummy yarn it is!  I got some malabrigo in two different colors - holly hock and tuareg - as well as some beaverslide worsted.  As you can see, I ended up with two yarns almost the same color.  This color of blue is my new favorite color.  I also bought a shirt in the same color last week - all without noticing it.  Funny how that happens.

Never mind that I need to finish a sweater for Lily for Christmas, I couldn't help but immediately wind a ball of that holly hock malabrigo and cast on a little something for myself.  I'm working on anther Cropped Cardigan.  My first attempt at this didn't go so well, but I've learned from my mistakes and am ready to take another go at it.  This sweater WILL fit!!

I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to make it back to this space again before the end of the year - I have big plans including lots of relaxing, visiting, and being with my little family - so I'd like to wish you all a very blessed holiday and a happy new year!

quilt top

Remember those big 16" blocks I was working on about a month ago?  Since then I've made a block or two when I got the chance.  This morning I finally had enough (12) to make a quilt top, so I did.

There wasn't much thinking involved with this top.  Well, I did think a little when I made each block, but that was pretty much it.  When I sewed the blocks together, it was totally random.  I grabbed a block, sewed it to the next, and so on.  Once it was all sewn together, it wasn't quite as large as I wanted, so I combined more scraps with the closest thing I had to a solid in my stash.  I only had a half yard, which is why I added the strips.  Originally, I had 9" pieced strips on the sides, but that made the quilt top almost square.  So, I cut the pieced strips in half making them 4.5" wide, then added them to the top and bottom. Much better, don't you think?

I still need to make a back, which I'd like to make from my stash, but with so much going on with the front, I think I want more of a solid effect.  Shoot, I just might have to buy more fabric.  Oh well, that's just a small sacrifice I'll have to make...

ornament making

Saturday night we finally got around to our little pipe cleaner & bead ornament project.  You see, I don't have enough candy colored holiday decorations, so I need more.  I'm not sure where I saw it (I thought it was the crafty crow, but I couldn't locate it - if you find it let me know), but the idea stuck in my mind. 

This is perfect for little ones, as long as they know better than to put the beads in their mouth.  This kept all three of mine busy for a while.  Okay, I'll admit it, it kept me busy too (I probably made at least half the ornaments).  These little things are so much fun to make!

All this took was a pack of pipe cleaners and a few bags of wooden beads from the Dollar Tree.  I twisted the loop in the middle of each pipe cleaner, then I let the kids put on all the beads.  Once they were done, I twisted the ends to secure them, then clipped the excess pipe cleaner.  The great part about this project is that the beads don't fall off.

These are perfect for this little ornament tree, don't you think?

my february lady

She's done.  I finished her up this weekend.  Unfortunately, I think I'm frogging her.  This project doesn't look so bad in the photos, but it doesn't feel right.  Even though I tried the sweater on the entire time I knit it, it's too big.  I underestimated the stretch factor of the garter stitch and lace pattern. 

There's bunching under the arms and too much width to the sleeve.  It's bulky.  I don't like bulky, especially up top where I don't need any extra fluff.  The bottom line is that I feel frumpy wearing it, so I probably won't wear it.  I love this sweater, so I really do want to wear it! 

As much as I'd like a finished sweater right now, frogging it doesn't bother me at all (though I may look at it for a month or so before I get around to it).  I'll knit it again, but first, I need to move on to another pattern for a while. 

outtakes

Why is it so hard to get three children to cooperate for 2 seconds to snap a simple Christmas card photo?

Cheesy smiles, blinking eyes, and temper tantrums - the Christmas card photo shoot wouldn't be the same without them.

We did finally get one decent shot, so all is well.  Have a happy weekend friends. 

snow day!

Much to everyone's amazement, it snowed in south Louisiana.  This is the most snow that I've ever seen here.  Ever. 

We're not used to this kind of weather, so it's a big event.  Schools, work, and roads were closed.  Also, it didn't take long for us to get tired of it.  At one point Alex was crying because his toes hurt.

Just to give you some perspective, day before yesterday it was in the 70's.  It's supposed to be in the 70's again next week.  We had a hurricane in September and now snow in December.  Crazy Louisiana weather!!

candy colored christmas

Yet again, I've gone with the candy colored christmas theme.  As soon as I pull out my pom-pom garland, I can't help it!

For the past few years, I haven't been all that into Christmas, but this year feels different.  I don't know, maybe not having an infant has something to do with it, though the touchy feely 4 and 2 yr old are driving me crazy.  They feel the need to play with the ornaments - grrr! 

Oh well, I did put out plenty of non-breakable ornaments in bowls and such, which I don't care too much about.  As you can see, it's all about the shiny and the color.  I'm really enjoying all the zing!  Of course, the kids LOVE it.

I'm not done decorating yet - I've picked up more pom-poms, some colorful pipe cleaners and some beads for a few projects.  The stairs need some pom-pom garland and after seeing this, I need one too.  You can't have too much happy color, can you?

the goods

Oh, how I love back-tack swaps!  BT4 is the third one I've participated in.  This year, the theme was a Christmas one, involving gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  I must admit, this threw me for a loop.  I'm not a very sparkly person, so coming up with something that sparkles (the gold) was tough.  After much thinking, I decided to use sparkly buttons on a throw pillow.  I absolutely love how this came out.  Let me tell you, parting with this one was not easy!  I have all the materials out to make myself one.  But lucky for me, my partner ended up sending me a throw pillow - what a coincidence :-)  Now I'm not in as much of a hurry to make one of my own, though I'm a bit ticked that I can't find any Christmas throw pillows that I've made.

To cover the frankincense and myrrh, I made Keri some chocolate covered pretzels and a pin cushion and needle book, stocked with new pins and needles.  She's an avid sewist, so I figured that might come on handy - I know that I can never have enough of those. 

Keri's package to me was wonderful!  Along with the pillow, which matches my living room perceftly, she sent a Vogue knitting magazine, fabric, coffee (YUM), a journal, and a sweet little bird ornament.  Notice that the coffee in front isn't full - I've been enjoying it from the moment I got it :)  I love every bit of it.  It was perfect Keri, really it was!

If you get the chance, I highly recommend participating in a back-tack swap.  I know that I'll be doing it again.

and the winner is...

The winner of my give-away day drawing - post #109 Cathy Gaubert.  Wahoo, Congrats Cathy!!  Holy cow - the drawing of this number SHOCKED me because Cathy is a crafty friend of mine who I met through this blog, and happens to live in my neck of the woods - I swear this wasn't rigged!!!  I used a random number generator to select the winner out of 646 comments. Crazy, huh? 

And because I know Cathy, I know that this bag isn't really her colors.  I offered to make her another one, more to her liking, so she suggested that I draw another name for this one.  That sounded like a good plan to me.  So, this bag will go to comment #450 Tricia - if you're reading Tricia, check your inbox.

I didn't plan on making a patchwork quilted tote, it just sort of happened.  I was originally thinking patchwork pin cushion, but BOOM, I got this idea in my mind and had to make it thisveryinstant.  I've never done anything like this, but LOVE it.  I think I need one exactly like it for my knitting. 

It's a simple tote, really.  I thought about doing a tutorial on it, but it's so easy, I figured just explaining it would work.  If you'd like, next time I make one I'll take photos. 

First, I pieced together two 16" blocks, then sewed them together along one side to make a big rectangle.  I made a "quilt sandwich", with batting in the middle, using denim for the lining.  I quilted the whole piece using back and forth straight lines (I'm a little afraid to attempt any other type of quilting).  I then trimmed and squared it up.  I used packaged bias binding to sew the sides and box the bottom corners, then I added the bias binding around the top.  I made two straps from the denim, then sewed them on the front.  That's it, easy peasy.

Thank you all for entering the drawing - I was FLOORED that so many of you entered - definitely a record number of comments for this little ole blog.  I've got more good stuff to share, so if you're a new reader, do stop by again :-)

In case you're wondering, I did read through every one of your comments.  It was a very late night last night, but so very worth it!!!