A Letter

Dear Friends,
I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you guys. The winter was long and I am still trying my best to get used to the new Stay at Home Mom thing. 

New patterns have emerged for the little guys sleeping time, not that it is set in stone. But hopefully I will have small moments like this one to sit down and write.

I have been busy crocheting. I have made three cups, two scarves and in process of using up some of my massive amounts of yarn, especially some baby yarn that has piled up in my stash. It has been fun slowly moving towards the crochet madness I had a year ago. 

I am hoping to still make yet another scarf or two and possibly do a little sewing. I have a few sewing projects that have been calling from the yarn stash as well. (Just some cool fabric waiting to be made into something).

So I hope I find you all ready for me to show you some neat projects and still do some more reviews!!!

Sincerely,
Taylor 

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!