A Pillow For Charlotte...

Another pillow - I love the orange and pink colors and the elephants are so cute.

{hugs}

Laura

Embroidered Pillow...

I have been making embroidered pillows lately - I love it.

I go to the fabric store, pick out a fabric for the back and draw a design that matches to embroider on the front of the pillow. 

Here is one I did for my friend's son. 

{hugs}

Laura

Where I Teach...

I love teaching preschool - it's such a rewarding profession. And I love the school I work for - I've been there almost 20 years. This is a video about my school, Crossroads Christian School. It was created a few weeks ago to show at a special fundraising dinner. Thank you for watching it...

{hugs}

Laura

Can A School Be Built on Love? from Doug Husen on Vimeo.

Kitchen Rug...

I have been gone from my blog for a very long time. Life has been busy from mid July until now. I haven't stopped crafting, but I have been a lot busier with other things. I have missed my blog and I'm very glad to be back.

One of the things I did while I was away was create a kitchen rug.

I was in need of a new kitchen rug and couldn't find anything in stores that I loved. For a long time I did without one and just threw a towel on the floor when necessary. I stumbled across a picture on Pinterest that showed a rug made from homemade t-shirt yarn and cotton yarn and really liked it. I purchased cotton t-shirts from my local thrift store and followed a tutorial I found online for cutting them into yarn. Then, I went for it! With no instructions, and a lot of trial and error, I crocheted cotton yarn, in single crochet, around the t-shirt yarn in a large oval. To finish it off, I crocheted two rows with just the cotton yarn (no t-shirt yarn). I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I do wish I could have gotten it to lay a little flatter.

{hugs}
Laura

Granny Squares...

I bought yarn for a Granny Square blanket. The problem is that I bought the yarn a while ago. Here is a link to my post about when I bought it. I don't know why I waited so long to start it, but I did.

I did add a few more colors not too long after my original purchase, and everything stayed bagged up and in my craft closet until just last week.

I decided to do a traditional granny square blanket. It's funny, I had to re-do that first square at least three times because I crochet so tightly. I just couldn't get it to look nice. I tried using a larger hook, which sometimes works for me, but not this time. So, I had to make myself crochet really loose.

The main color will be the gray with off-white, blue, green, coral and purple (yes, it's purple).  I really love the gray; it's a heather gray which reminds me of cuddling up in a old, warm  sweatshirt on a cold winter day.

I am weaving in my ends as I go, rather than leaving them all until the end. Sometimes that task seems so BIG if I leave it till the end. I am hoping it won't this time.

If any of you have tips, tricks or helpful hints about granny squares, blocking and joining, I would love to hear them. This is only my third granny square project and, even though I searched online for good information, I still feel a little unsure... Thanks!

{hugs}
Laura

Mason Jar Mug Cozy...

My daughter bought herself a HUGE mason jar mug. So, a cozy was in order. She picked the colors and I went from there. No pattern. Just crocheted it to fit snuggly.

The orange is 3 rows of single crochet, the white is 1 row of single crochet and the navy blue is 1 row of double crochet. I crocheted an edging of white in single crochet and created the ties from braiding all 3 colors.

To get a good fit, we measured the jar with a tape measure and then I crochet my chain to stretch to about 2 inches shorter than our measurement. It may seam too short, but once you start to crochet your rows, your piece "magically gets bigger" (At least for me it does - don't know why). It worked out good.

I hope you have a wonderful week and find time to create something fabulous.

{hugs}
Laura

Be Proud to be a Girl...

Crocheted Triangle Bunting...

These little triangles were fun to crochet. Super easy too. It made a cute little bunting to hang up. I am very happy with how it turned out.

The pattern:

chain 2
2 single crochet in the first chain
chain 1 and turn
2 single crochet each stitch
chain 1 and turn
2 single crochet in the first stitch and 1 single crochet in each stitch after
chain 1 and turn
repeat *2 single crochet in the first stitch and 1 single crochet in each stitch after * until your triangle is as big as you want it.

I crochet 13 rows using Lily Sugar 'n Cream and a size J/10 6mm hook. I also crocheted a row of chains/single crochets across the top for hanging. 

Here are my Instagram pictures... 

This is the first time I have ever blocked a crocheted project. I folded and placed a beach towel on the carpeted floor in a spot where no one would walk on them. I laid out and pinned down my triangles, giving them a nice shape with a little tension but not pulled too tightly. And then I got them really wet with water using a spray bottle. The hardest part was leaving them until they were completely dry.

But, it was worth the wait. They are nice and flat and well shaped.

You'll have to let me know if you make your own crocheted triangle bunting. I'm sure you'll love it.

{hugs}
Laura

Fabric Wrapped Embroidery Hoop, Tutorial...

I have always loved the look of fabric wrapped hoops for displaying your embroidery. 

And, even though it's pretty easy to figure out how to wrap fabric around the hoop, I was wondering how other crafters were finishing the backs of their hoops. Although, after looking online to find tutorials, I found very few. 

For the hoops that I have made in the past, I left my embroidered fabric long, pulling it tight together using needle and thread and covering the whole back with a circle of felt or fabric. It looked nice, but it was a lot of extra work. 

Well, I recently notice at a craft show a couple hoops finished with the embroidered fabric cut short and hot glued inside the edge of the hoop. I like the simplicity of it as well as being able to see the back of my work. I try really hard to keep the back of my embroidery neat and I don't mind seeing it. Although, for gifts or for selling, it would be nice to glue a circle of felt or fabric to the back. Maybe I'll do that next time... 

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

{hugs}

Laura

After finishing my embroidery and making my crochet accents, I am ready to get started.

I used a rotary cutter to cut thin strips of fabric. My hoop is 4 inches and I cut 2 strips of fabric that were 1/2 inch wide and 24 inches long. They don't have to be perfect because the edges don't really stand out after it's wrapped. So, if you don't have a rotary cutter, scissors will work great.

For wrapping the fabric, I used school glue. It worked great keeping the fabric in place and it's thin consistency doesn't add any extra bulk like hot glue would have.

 Just start with about an inch of glue on the inside of the outer hoop.

Now, just tightly wrap the fabric around the hoop, overlapping the fabric as you go. I started as close to the end as possible, wrapping my fabric over the metal "L" bracket.

 Then, when needed, add more glue and continue wrapping.

When you get to the end of your fabric strip, apply some glue to the fabric as well as the hoop to secure the end.

Then, start the new strip of fabric over the top of the first.

 Continue around, adding fabric strips as needed, until you get to the end.

At the end, trim your fabric so it's long enough to finish on the inside of the hoop and glue it in place. Beware, your fabric strips will unravel a little as you wrap. I just used my embroidery scissors and trimmed the threads off.

 Next, I trimmed the embroidered fabric to a little less than a 1/2 inch.

I did not wait for the school glue to be dry before putting my hoops back together. Just make sure everything is lined up perfectly and then tighten the screw.

Using a low-temp hot glue gun, I applied a small amount of hot glue to the inner hoop and gently pressed down the fabric with my fingers, making little folds here and there where needed.

 The final thing to do was to hot glue on my crochet accents and I was done.

Hoop Art...

I have recently created two embroidered hoops with crocheted flowers to hang. I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time and I am really happy with how they turned out.

I will be posting a tutorial for wrapping the hoop with fabric very soon.

{hugs}
Laura

This Years Tomatoes - and Two More Mandala's

Good morning. It's a beautiful day here so far, it's nice and cool and I can hear the birds chirping outside - I am enjoying it.

I am excited because my tomatoes are growing and doing good (with the exception of one plant that is growing but not producing). 

These are Indigo Rose tomatoes... 

These are German Queen tomatoes...

These are Yellow Pear tomatoes...

These are the last two mandala's that I crocheted. I love the colors of this one and I am currently using it on the living-room table.

I really like the blues and greens with that little bit of yellow of this mandala but I'm not sure of the variegated yarn. I have always liked the color combination of variegated yarns but not the patterning you get when crocheting with them.

These little baby birds are in a nest in our patio. The picture is not that great and the nest is more bird-poo that twigs but, they are so cute that I wanted to share them with you.

Have a great day.

{hugs}
Laura