Summer "Vacation"

The Great thing about having a crochet business is that you can work and travel at the same time. Also when your husband is a student the only time you get to travel is in the summer and that week during Christmas. Right now we live 6 to 10 hours away from our families so we really wanted to see everyone that we haven't  seen in over a year.

This desire has resulted in a wild month long trip for my daughter and I. My husband gets to enjoy two weeks of it with us. We will be flying for the last leg of our journey. That meant I had to pack for a month in a carry-on and personal item. I told my husband, "You expect a creative person to live out of a carry-on for a Month!" Why yes, yes he did.

I had a few misgivings out of it. I watched videos and read blogs on how to live out of a carry-on. I felt a little better. I have to say 2 and a half weeks in I'm doing pretty well.
I decided I would pack small projects to work on. So I packed A half yard of linen fabric, a sandwich bag of embroidery thread, a hoop, two skeins of Simply Soft yarn, and my case of hooks.

With the two skeins of yarn I made a sweater vest, that I am writing a pattern for. I ended up finishing it and leaving it at my dad's to pick it up at Christmas time. That also gives me a little more room in my bag.

The first embroidery project that I made was this one. The pattern is found at NeedlenThread.com . I'm pretty happy with it. I'll iron it out and make it pretty when I get home.

The one I am working on now did not have an original site that I could find. It is also coming out well. I still have 10 more days left of my trip so I know I will have some more to show. I hope you find inspiration in the fact that this creative lady is living out of a carry-on for a month and surviving!

Adult Simple Crochet Yoke

I love how it turned out!

Do you remember the simple yoke that I made for my daughter last year? I decided I needed a shirt with one too.

I started with a shirt that I found for my husband on the clearance rack for a dollar. The shirt ended up being to small for him, so I found a new way to use it.

Coil Baskets

I want to share some inspiration with you. I have been really jealous of all the home decorating sites that have the giant baskets that sit under end tables and such. You know what I am talking about. Like this one from World Market or This one from Pottery Barn. So obviously those are out of my price range. That meant I had to come up with something else. I had been seeing how to make crocheted coil baskets on Pintrest, so I thought that I would give it a try. I decided at first that I would use t-shirt yarn for the coil part, and size 10 thread for the crochet part.
It ended up being to small. But it is perfect for my daughter's Easter Basket this year. I love how it looks, even if it was to small.

I knew that I then had to come up with something bigger to use as my coil. We just moved again to another apartment and that means I took inventory of everything we had and if we really needed everything. I came across some clothesline that we have moved with 4 times and we still had not used it. I thought, "finally I can use this. I'm so glad we kept packing it up."
The clothesline was 100 ft, and it was just the right amount I needed. When I was done, in went "some" of my scrap yarn. I am designing another scrapgahn to help use it all up so be on the look out for it.

Recipe or loose guideline.

Size: The basket ended up being 11 inches tall with a circumference of 35 inches.

Materials: 100 ft of clothesline, 4 balls of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.
Hook: H

I started by tying a knot with both the clothesline and the cotton together, then just using the cotton I made 8 sc around the clothes line.

Then I moved the clothes line so that it would wind around and I started to make 2 sc in the starting sc and then I made 2 sc in each of the next 7 sc (making a circle), With a stitch marker you can keep track of where your starting sc is, or like me you can just wing it, but I would recommend the stitch marker.

One the next level I made an increase st every other sc, the next level I increased every second st, the next level I increased every third st. I continued increasing in this pattern till I got to round 10.

 I made one more row of an increase every 10 stitches. At this point I had gotten to the part of the clothesline where it had stopped coiling around itself.  After that I just crocheted around and around and around. I ended with 33 rounds.


For the handles I crocheted 15 sc around the clothesline without going through the sc below, skipping 15 sc, then I crocheted 30 sc, then 15 sc without going below and skipping 15 sc, then I crocheted another 30 sc.

I also made this small rectangle one with t-shirt yarn and Luster Sheen yarn.

 

 For This basket I used t-shirt yarn and size 10 cotton thread.

 

These baskets were a lot of fun to make. I hope they bring some inspiration for you to think outside the box.

More Crochet Patterns You Will Love

Crafty Containers

Here We Go Do-Se-Do Scrapghan

Pajama Eaters

Before Christmas a friend of mine asked if I would make some pajama eaters for her boys.

That one request has now turned into a lot more pj eaters.

 The pattern for them is found here: http://sewfearless.com/patterns-and-tutorials/the-pajama-eater-pattern/ . They are the cutest things possible. Every time I make a new one I'm amazed at how they develop their own personalities, and you can really personalize them to fit the person you are giving it to. My one complaint would be that she states that you need 1 yard for the main fabric, but really you can get all the cuts made with just a half yard. 

Faith, Hope and Love Throw Pillow

A Free Embroidery Tutorial

I have been working on some sewing projects this month. I wanted a way to use up my scraps and this is the project that I came up with. If you would like to make it to you will need:

• 8- 8 inch squares in coordinating colors

• 2 buttons

• 1 embroidery floss skein

• carbon paper

• sewing machine

• fiber fill 

 Instructions

 1. To start I sewed four the the squares together for the front. For the back I sewed four squares that were the same color.  
2. Next with a word processing program (like word) I picked out which font I wanted and typed out the words I wanted. I chose the french script and I sized it to 104. I printed it off on a piece of  paper.

3. Next I cut out the letters and I cut the carbon paper to fit the size of the cut out words, I etched the words, with the carbon paper onto the fabric where I wanted them placed. I found that it helped to pen down the paper and the carbon paper so it won't move.

4. Next I got out my embroidery hoop and I satin stitched around the letters covering up the carbon letters with the embroidery floss.

5. When all the letters are covered. I sewed the front and back pieces together with the right sides facing each other. I left a small hole in one corner to flip the pillow right side out, and to stuff it.


  6. Stuff the pillow. Sew up the whole with a wip stitch. and sew on the buttons on both sides of the pillow at the same time.

More Embroidery Projects You Would Like

Finding inspiration in nature

It is well with my soul

A hooded towel 

This a a project that I like to make for baby gifts. If I do not choose to crochet around the edge, this project literally takes less than 5 minutes to make.  First I watch for deals when towels go on sale, then I stock pile. this particular towel I bought at Dollar General for two dollars and the wash clothes were a pack of 2 for a dollar. All you need for this project is a towel, washcloth, and a sewing machine, but really you can sew it by hand too.
Step 1: Fold wash cloth in half, and sew the top together.
Step 2: find the middle of the towel and mark it, then pin the washcloth to the center of the towel, with and inch and a half leeway,  like in the picture.
Step 3: Sew the washcloth to the towel, to the towel, making a long rectangle with the stitches, for extra stability.
You can stop here or you can add some border.
Step 4: With an embroidery needle, and size 10 thread, make 1/4 inch blanket stitches all around the towel.
Step 5: Add The border of your choice.

I love this project because it is useful to whoever you are giving it to and it is a lot cheaper than  store bought hooded towels. I've seen them as high as twenty dollars (mine was made with $2.50)  The bad thing about this post is now everyone is going to see how much I spend on them.