A Summertime Bedspread

It has taken some time, but I have completed a beautiful bedspread!!

I'm sure you remember the squares and strips that I created to form this beautiful afghan/bedspread.

I love how it looks on our bed! Its complete with matching (or close to matching) pillow shams.

Throw pillows!

 Since we've been using it, it has been more than comfortable to have as a summer bedspread. Ben enjoys it too because it's not as heavy as other comforter/bedspreads can be.

I also found some throw pillows for a decent price at Tuesday Morning. The orange one is from a garage sale...sometimes it's fun to look at garage sales for those hidden deals.

If you want to do this sort of project for yourself, don't be afraid! It takes time, but you are sure to get the colors and the pattern you really want for your bedspread.

Matching pillow shams.

It was a good relaxing project, but it may be sometime before I take one like that on again. Well, until next time! Bye.

Little Bundle, Big Change

Well it seems that the summer and almost the fall has gotten away with me. But my family faced a large change.

Our beautiful son was born on August 20! He came a wee bit earlier than expected (at least in my mind) and on time everywhere else.

It has been a joy so far to raise a little boy, course he is still just a baby.It has been a large change and no one can tell you how big a change until it happens.

Just now I am getting used to the feedings (as I am nursing) and some late nights. But he has been a good baby for the adjustment.

He sleeps, he eats and he is happy!!! All good things for a new mama!

I am going to keep up with this blog as best I can. Learn to balance life and new baby. It is possible!

I hope you all can continue to join me on this journey of new motherhood. I will continue to crochet, cook and try to review some books. Thanks for stopping by.

June Gardening

Its been a couple weeks now, but my husband and I got down to business when it came to our flower garden.

We always try to plant a few flowers to make our garden more beautiful, this year to do that it took quite a bit of weeding!

 All of our beds were weighted down with weeds galore. So in effort to be comfortable weeding I took a stool outside and began pulling for all I was worth.

I started with the easy bed, which is the rose bed. We have chocolate wood chip type cover there and it makes for easy weed pulling.

After that was done we "tilled" the ground of the other beds pulling what weeds we could from the other beds.

Then it was time for the fun part, picking the flowers to fill the gap the weeds had left. I enjoy looking for flowers to plant.

We chose some Begonia's, Impatiens, Cannas and New Guinea impatiens. A few other flowers too, but I forget their names.

We then laid out how we would mix and match all the colors we had purchased. It turned out pretty nice, even with the plants we already had like our bleeding heart and our lily's. 

It was nice to do something together even though it was a bit exhausting. But it made for a beautiful garden!

Oh Baby!: Booties and Hats

Can you believe it? I already have finished the second blanket! I can't believe it myself. 

It turned out pretty nice. Ben likes it too! So that makes me feel better and that I chose the right colors and pattern. 

Working on the Ripple

The blanket is nice because its soft, not too big and not too small. I can imagine, when the baby comes, laying the baby on it or laying it across a car seat in the winter.

Most of the yarn used in it was Red Heart Soft. The yarn selection I had was pretty expansive, but this particular yarn seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The denim colored yarn I had on hand from one of my other baby projects, unfortunately I forget what brand.

 Lucy's ripple pattern from Attic 24 was simple to use and very easily learned. With the results I got, I am entirely happy! Defined colors and a fun pattern to boot.

Beautiful finished project!

I twiddled my thumbs for a little bit after I finished the blanket. But it didn't take long to find some more yarn to use and a cute pattern as well!

The yarn I found is Plymouth Yarn Dream Baby DK  that I found at a local second hand store. It was fairly priced and even though at the time I didn't know I was having a boy, the light blue and speckled white was perfect for any baby.

So I made a cute little cupcake hat found in a specifically baby and kids crochet magazine. It turned out pretty cute.....

Then I thought, maybe some more booties would do. So I used a cute little gumdrop booty pattern found in the same magazine. They turned out so cute and the baby has a matching set!!

I still have some of that yarn left, so I'm in process of making another set. A friend of mine is also having a boy and I plan on sending the set to her. 

Twin booties and hats.

Just a little something to get her started!

My next baby project I will be making another little cardigan for my little one. I realize it will be awhile, most likely before he wears it. But it is so cute and classic.

Start of Cardigan

By then, I think (and hope) I'll be all done with things baby for awhile. Because I still have projects I want to try for myself....like a pair of socks and a shawl for my writing room.

Well that is all I have for today!

Oh Baby!

Well, I don't know if you caught it in my New York, New York post, but my husband and I are pregnant!

We found out we are expecting a little boy! Just another one to add to Ben's already large family clan.

So since I've known I've been pregnant I've been hooking away at the next baby project. One of them I've been waiting to do for a long time. It is a cute blanket found in Vanna's Choice: Color it Beautiful Afghans book  I purchased. It is inspired by the log cabin effect you can get by quilting.

 It is already finished! I whipped it up so quick that I had to frog one line because I had already reached the size limit.

It looks great. I love the yarn and the colors. The yarn I used is called Stylecraft Life DK. I heard about it from one of my favorite blogs Attic 24.

The yarn is a fantastic mix of acrylic and wool, so you don't miss out on the refined wool, but you can machine wash it, which is a plus. Especially since it is a baby blanket.

Log Cabin Baby Blanket

Before I knew it was a boy, I decided to make some booties. They are cute little high tops! I made them green in an effort to be "neutral". They got rave reviews on facebook. I hope you enjoy them!

Next project on the list is another baby blanket...Ben thought there was way too much pink in the other one to really be a boy's blanket. In all fairness, I bought the beautiful yarn before I knew what we were having, plus I was following the pallet given (to some extent).

I have started the next baby blanket. It is now a navy blue, denim, tan and green one. Again, inspired by Attic 24. I am using Lucy's ripple pattern . It is a classic pattern and since it won't have any holes, baby's feet won't get stuck.

Sneak peek!

I'm not planning on making it super big, unfortunately I don't off hand know HOW big. So I'm just going with the flow.

I think that'll be it for baby projects, even though I might find I want to make more, since I have some cute baby yarn I came across at a second hand store. But we will see.

Thanks for stopping by! See ya next time.

Spring has Sprung!!

The weather has been a bit trying this year. It would snow, then all of it would disappear. Then after the snow we ended up with cold rainy days. 

In late April some of the state received some snow.Thankfully where I live we didn't receive anymore, we just had dreary rainy days for several weeks.

 The last couple of days have been extremely warm. The plants have enjoyed growing in the weather.

Luckily we have a few plants that made it through the rough patches the Iowa weather has handed us. We are pleased to have  a  blooming, bleeding heart and some tulips to enjoy.

I am very thankful that we have gotten out of the nasty weather!

A Completed Goal: Animals Finished

I finally stitched up my last animal!! Boy has it been a little bit of a ride, trying to figure out which animals I would do and if I had the yarn to do it.

I finished off the animals with a Boston Terrier, a teddy bear and another lion. They turned out super cute.

 I hope that they will bring happiness to the intended children! I hope their parents will be able to choose ones that will fit their children as well.

I'm not sure what else to say, except I made my goal of twenty-eight animals and I look forward to the hopefully positive feedback I get.

Course once an animal is made another pregnancy is announced...but I hope to get one to everyone!

New York, New York

Well, admittedly New York was not the first choice for a vacation. We had dreams of spending our days on the beach. But with my pregnancy, yes we're pregnant! We decided to stick closer to home.

But being an American, who would want to miss all the sights New York had to offer?

Time's Square

We went to Broadway and saw the ever popular Wicked show. It was fantastic. An elegant theatre, with fabulous props and singers.

It fulfilled our expectations. If not more, even though they were not the original cast to preform it. Ben and I could not see any reason not to go to Broadway while in New York. Especially a musical.

Rockefeller Center

We also saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Which had a wide array of classic art from around the world. It was an expansive, impressive museum. One, if you get the chance to go to New York you should see!

Such art pieces included famous paintings of George Washington crossing the Delaware River and Mary Cassatt paintings.

There was also an interesting armor exhibit, showing different elaborate pieces of armor from England to Japan. 

Not only was the art nice to look at, but the Museum itself was clean and had accommodations of cafes in case you were hungry.

We also visited the classic building of movies and prestige, the Empire State Building. This particular building has been in such movies as King Kong, Sleepless in Seattle, An Affair to Remember and Miracle on 34th Street. 

Though it was cold, we went all the way to the top and saw basically a fantastic view of New York from a bird's eye. 

What else did we do? We went to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across it. It was a nice little jaunt where we took pictures and just enjoyed the city views. 

Brooklyn Bridge

I got a fair picture of the Statue of Liberty from the Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately we were unable to go Liberty Island because of hurricane Sandy.

Another neat place we went to was E.A.T on Madison Ave. We enjoyed a very tasty dinner of chicken pot pie and meatloaf. Those dishes sound run-of-the-mill, but they were far from it!

There was a excellent wait staff and the service itself was good. Course we were one of the few people eating dinner when we first got there.

New York has not strayed from it's original melting pot atmosphere. While we were there one of the many languages we heard was French! We almost felt like we were back in France and fell back to our few French language skills.

Besides French, I'm certain we heard Spanish, German and Italian. It felt as if all of Europe decided to vacation in New York.

But it makes sense. Where else would you visit if you were from Europe? Plus it probably would only be one flight, depending on where you were from in Europe.

Our trip to New York was fun, but it also was exhausting, walking everywhere! We did use the subway, but much like Italy, the subway was kind of far from each destination. You had to walk, no matter how far you were from where you were headed.

The subway is the cheapest way to travel throughout the city though. I wouldn't have any idea how much a cab ride would cost for every single destination we went to. I'm sure much more expensive then what we spent on the subway.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little jaunt through New York. I hope to see you next time for more crochet!

March: From Squares to Strips

One day I suddenly had the urge to finish my master bedroom blanket. So, much of my time was spent carefully sewing squares together.

I decided to sew them together instead of crocheting them together because I wanted the blanket to look clean, as opposed to looking as if it were a patchwork quilt.

It's going to look great after its done!!

Here is what it's going to look like (sewn together of course).

 I designed the format for the blanket myself, all the while using squares from Vanna's Choice pattern book.

Unfortunately after all the strips were done, I came down with a horrible 24 hour stomach flu. Which did not help future crochet.

A Few of the Strips.

Then there was a big trip to New York to think about. I will tell you all about our mini vacation in my next post.

All in all March was a busy month, planning for our trip and getting through sickness.  I hope to have the blanket done this month.

Thanks for joining me! See you later.

Amigurumi Toy Box: Review

I have been working hard on finishing my little animals to give away. Now I am so close I feel it is time to give the book I'm using, Amigurumi Toy Box a look-see.

Amigurumi Toy Box is by Ana Paula Rimoli. Like her book Amigurumi World she takes you through her journey in creating each animal.

 Along with each picture and pattern there is a short paragraph explaining why she chose to make that particular animal.

Before I purchased this book, I was already excited about creating the new animals. I had only read what she had written about them!

The patterns are written in word form and are easy to follow. She also gives instructions as to what color of yarn to use, if you are making the animal as she has.

Also, for the beginner crocheter, there are instructions on how to do each of the stitches used in the book.

The beauty of amigurumi is that anyone can learn how to do it because of the simple stitches and the easy circular motion of each of the patterns.

If you are a fan of Ana Paula Rimoli, do not fail to get this book! The pictures are fun to look at and the anecdotes are fun to read.

Plus, if you are a part of Facebook you can show Rimoli your creations! Which almost gives the book a more personal touch because you can contact the author.

But nonetheless if you are a beginner, do not fear because Rimoli makes it easy for you to follow her patterns.

It is an enjoyable book that any crocheter would love to have in their library.

Muffin Craving

Lately  my husband and I have been talking about muffins! I don't think I have baked anything for a long time, so I thought I would find a good recipe and try to recreate it!

I found a lemon poppy seed muffin recipe in one of my newer cookbooks. Actually the cookbook is from my church which I received a couple of months ago.

I decided on lemon poppy seed because my husband stated he liked those the best. 

 This recipe only needed a few things like lemon cake mix, poppy seeds and vanilla pudding. The liquids were orange juice, oil and eggs.

First I put in the vanilla pudding and lemon cake mix. Next I put in the poppy seeds.

Lastly I put in the oil, eggs and orange juice.

Mix it all up!

Put it in some muffin pans. Bake! Out come beautiful golden brown muffins.

After they came out of the oven we tasted the delightfully fluffy and lemony muffins. Whoever created the recipe sure knew what goes well together! Plus it was a nice way to spend an afternoon. 

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you all are well!

Lots O'Squares

I have been working on my master bedroom blanket for quite sometime. I am finally making headway on it though!

Each square has an amount I'm aiming for. For instance my silver blue square's number is 32 and I reached that today!

 The linen color squares have to most to make, as they have two "rows" in my design. But I am nearing the end in creating those as well.

Dusty Blue

Lately I have been very determined to finish my projects already in progress. I am also almost done with all the stuffed toys I planned to make. After the bird I'm working on I think I only have three more to complete!

Linen

Silver Blue

Then I most definitely will move on to my next project. A baby blanket I have been dying to do since I got the book its in. I already have the yarn for it. It's just a matter of putting it together!

First things first though. Finish the stuffed toys! Er, finish the queen sized blanket!

My Design

Well I hope you all are doing well...I am even with all the snow! (We got LOTS of snow again, snow day for all!)