It's the busy time

After the Festival of Trees, I packed up and headed to Southeastern Utah and participated in a craft fair with my sister (went mostly for the fun of hanging out with her, the fair was an excuse). I've never been in one of those before and it went much better than I anticipated. I sold some mini stockings, some animals, some blankets, some stuff like that.

After I got home I worked madly on scarves for my aunt & cousin. My aunt is my dad's only sister and I love her so much! Dace, my cousin, is like another sister. We didn't know each other well growing up because they lived far away but, thanks mainly to facebook, she's one of my best friends.

Since then I have made stockings for teachers (I had quite a stock before the craft fair, but they sold out, so I started again at zero). Now I'm going to work on some dinosaurs and a couple of scarves.

Next month, next month I'll be able to stop, breathe and sleep again. Right? (PS, I am making a goal of 1 stocking a week next year.)

Lucy's 7th tree

Last week was the Festival of Trees. A favorite time. We made Lucy's 7th tree. We laughed. We got choked up. We remembered.

O Christmas Tree

a trellis scarf

I've got a new crochet stitch pattern that I adore. It makes a mesh-like fabric and I've been using it for water bottle slings. Yesterday I decided to apply it to a scarf and some soft, yummy yarn. I don't know if the stitch has a name, it probably does, I can't imagine nobody else has ever dreamed it up before.


I call it a Trellis Scarf because the stitch reminds me of a once-white, weather-beaten trellis on the side of an old farmhouse, the kind a young man would climb to whisper to a girl upon whom he had a crush, long after her parents had gone to bed (oh dear, this image is starting to worry me because I, myself, have four daughters!).

The yarn is Patons Bohemian (poly/acrylic blend) in indigo. The scarf measures about 89 or 90 inches (oh how I love a long scarf!), plenty of room to knot around a neck and keep someone toasty and snug. The flower in the bottom corner is made of wool. The scarf can be machine washed in cold and left flat to dry.

Although there are holes throughout the pattern, this scarf is very warm and cozy.

It is for sale, $20, which includes shipping (in the US). If you're interested, let me know. I can run a sale through Etsy (so I'm told. I'll have to call my etsy-pro friend *hi Jamie!* for instructions, but she says it can be done!).

My daughter won a trip to Space Camp(!) from her teacher and though tuition is free, we are responsible for getting her there. I'm going to be making items to sell to help pay for her airfare.

Zion

The girls and I spent a long weekend in Southern Utah. These pictures were taken while on a hike in Zion National Park. Amazing.

We used our water bottle holders on the hike. I redesigned my pattern to make them able to accommodate different bottle sizes better, and made some for our friends who went with us. We got lots of compliments on them.

I bought a parks pass. We're going back. We're also going back to Arches. And, I hope, all of the other national parks in this beautiful state. Oh! And the Grand Canyon.

It's going to be a fun year.

my blog life is suffering

Yes, my blog life is suffering since my beloved mac g5 died. I can access most stuff from my husband's computer, but I don't know how to, and am kind of protesting anyway, upload pics from my camera to this machine. Poor blog. Poor Marcia. I was in the process of writing a post about a unicorn cake I made for a friend's daughter's 5th birthday. Sad.

On the other hand, I'm getting a lot more done around the house and with my crochet. So that's a good thing, right?

an ugly buddy

Inspired by a monster on a cup we got at Target, I made an ugly buddy. I think his name is Steve. Or Dave. Not sure.

I haven't been much into the whole blogging thing lately. I guess I don't feel super creative these days. We've been doing a lot of work on the craft room. The end is in sight. Thankfully. Most of the things I've made lately are either gifts or donations. With birthday party invitations coming around now that the girls are back in school, I've been making a lot of presents for little girls. It's been fun, they've been cute but with the last minute-ness they all seem to possess, I don't ever remember to take a picture.

I should think of something clever to say, but I seem to be short on 'clever' too. :)

***update: his name is dave. thought you'd like to know.***

a new (to me) lamp

Just thought I'd update that I decided to leave the dresser as is for now. I figure if I ever REALLY want to, I can paint it later but I would not be able to change my mind and get this look back after having been painted. And I do love this. Thanks for the votes! Here's a picture of the lamp I got today at the thrift store...

thrift store find

I went to the thrift store looking for a chest of drawers in which to keep (some of) my yarn in my new craft room and found this. Immediately I fell in love. Originally I thought I wouldn't paint it, but now I'm not so sure. I guess the biggest reason I'm considering paint is because most everything in the room is bright. There is one desk with a light wood finish. Opinions?

the lip at the top is my favorite part.

we have a new baby

we found this little guy, a stray, near my parents' house. he was skinny. he was dirty. he was hungry. we brought him home. we named him barkley (after my childhood cat who was also black). we love him. he's had a bath. he's getting some meat on him. he's fitting in well.

another activity book

My nephew had a birthday. I made him an activity book, similar to the one I made before.

This book would be great for the car or church or wherever.

The girls colored the first page for him (but used different crayons so these stay pretty). Because he has a two-year-old brother (Elliot is turning 5) we included washable crayons, you know, for the sake of the benches in the chapel.

Elliot. My boy. He's such a boy too! He loves trucks and cars but doesn't like getting dirty. He has a full head of adult-like hair and a great, big smile. He blessed us almost exactly one year from the day our hearts broke when his older sister died. I love him.

schrute farms beets

I tried something new, freezer paper stenciling. I was nervous. It took longer than I wanted it to. But in the end, I am happy with my results.

Thankfully my fussy printer worked well enough for me to print off "Schrute Farms Beets" exactly how I wanted it. I taped the printed paper facing the waxy side of the freezer paper and cut around the letters with a blade. I didn't do a very good job. Oh well.

Then I removed the printer paper and ironed it, wax side down, onto my washed t-shirt.

Next I dabbed on fabric paint I had leftover from our 4th of July t-shirts, then left it in the sun to dry.

I peeled off the paper & heat set the paint with the iron. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I decided to use the brown paint instead of the white I had because I wanted a more subtle look. It's a gift for a fellow fan of The Office. I hope he likes it!

(Schrute Farms & Dwight. Also, my shirt was inspired by this shirt)

You Bet I'm Proud

This was made by my 13-year-old daughter.

Now don't get me wrong,

I am proud of her school achievements,

she gets good grades and is in advanced classes.

She is gifted in music and art.

She is funny and sweet and helpful.

She bakes.

But this? This might be IT.

Good job, Birdie!

new friends

eddie (giraffe) & quintin (bird)

friends made for the first birthday of a little girl who did not live even to see her first christmas. little kenzie's story is heartbreaking. her parents had a fund raising carnival to support research into the disease that took their beautiful daughter from them. we were unable to attend, but i was able to donate a few items to their gift shop.

lunch!

more food creations:

Every kid's favorite (well, except Tessa)

PB&J

The sandwich was made with mostly acrylic yarn (the PB is cotton). The bread is two strands thick and even still I am not sure it is thick enough.

***

Another crowd pleaser

pizza that could be either pepperoni or cheese.

I may be slightly addicted to making play food. Tessa loves them and is sad these are not for her. Luckily her birthday is next week and I plan on making more as a surprise.

t-shirt mistake fixed

My sister saw a great idea for a patriotic t-shirt in an issue of Family Fun Magazine. She organized an effort to make them with a whole bunch of cousins a couple of weeks ago (why didn't I take any pictures of that?!).

All was well until 11 pm the night before the Independence Day parade (which wasn't on Independence Day this year, but the day before). This was when two of my girls realized their shirts had accidentally been mixed up between the hand-stamping and name-painting phases. Oops. Lizzy's name ended up on Tessa's shirt and Tessa's name ended up on Lizzy's shirt. And they are dramatically different sizes. What's a mom to do with one girl in tears and another not far behind?

Well. I remembered fabric I had leftover from a few years ago when I attempted jumpers for the 4th of July.

And I made a plan.

They turned out very cute and I had requests from two other girls to add stars to their shirts even though there were no mistakes that needed a band-aid.

oh are ee oh

Anybody want a cookie?

The girls are loving these, even though one has a bite missing.

Low in calories, high in fun.

weeds at the park

I'm being an ADD crocheter right now. About half-way through a giraffe and wanting to make play food now instead. And then there's Quintin the over-grown baby blue bird who needs only a few feathers atop his head. *sigh* I'll get back to them soon, I promise!

more hair pretties

For my sister's birthday, I made these:

Although her birthday was earlier in the week, I haven't given them to her yet.

Why?

Oh, because she's been on a fancy European vacation.

And she gets home today.

I'm only a liiiiiittle jealous.

Love you, Sissy.

PS the adorable model is my Mikay

cold

It's super cold here. So yesterday I made chicken and rice soup, from scratch. And sugar cookies. Although the soup was very, very good, I only took a picture of the cookies. I used my mom's recipe. They are the best I've ever had, hands down. Doug told me over Christmas that I was a lucky child, indeed, if I grew up eating those cookies. He's right. I tried to call my mom to ask about sharing the recipe but was unable to get a hold of her. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, enjoy the pic... mmmm...

Field Trip!

So ... here's a new to me idea, blog field trips! Jax from Aly&Ash and I swapped blogs for the day. I love her blog, she's so crafty! Today I'm posting over there, how super generous of her! Aaaaand without further ado, here she is:

Crochet Flowers & Card Making

Hi I'm Jax from Aly&Ash! I'm excited to be posting over here today! Today I wanted to show you some adorable flowers my mom made me recently for card making! The center are brads which make attaching to cards easy peasy!

Aren't they adorable!
Here are a few examples of cards I've made using them!

The stems and leaves I just hand stitched with a little embroidery floss!
Well thanks for letting me guest post today! Come by Aly&Ash to check out other cool crafts plus a week of Father's Day gift ideas! Here are a few of my recent favorites!

www.alyandash.com