Learning to Knit Again

Ok, so I'm starting to knit again.  Like I really needed to start another project!  LOL!!! 

The pattern is by Lily Sugar'n Cream.  It's called "Simple Stripe Rug".  I found it at FavCrafts.com.  This rug is going to be for our kitchen. 

Casting on was hard to do.  The pattern calls for 3 strands of yarn.  This wasn't your simple casting on stitch.  The reason being is because I am trying to keep it from getting all wonky from use.

I'm not going to be including the stripes in this one.  It is just going to be the variegated yarn that you see.  Not sure if I want to add the fringe either.  Fringes collect hair and other junk in the wash.  Yuck!

I'll keep you posted as I work on the rug.  Now I'm off to working on other things.

Have a great day!

I Found a New Use For an Old TV Tray....

I bought two of these Ninja Turtle trays back when the turtles came out.  One for each of the kids.  This one was my daughter's.  My son thought his was something to sit on.  It ended up in the trash....

I got this crazy idea yesterday evening to get the tray out from the drawer on the stove and put it to use.  It's been over a year since I sat down and worked on this batik quilt.  The petals that you see here are for a Dresden Plate.  It is part of a UFO that I needed to work on and get off my list. LOL!!!

I'm using reverse applique for the curved part of the the petal out of recycled dryer sheets.  They work great!  It saves me from having to buy any stablilizer. 

Now for a little bit of playing on the internet and a little bit of handpiecing before I hit the sack.

Future Projects

These are things that I'm either going to do or learn sometime in the future when I get more time.

1. hobo handbag
2. t-shirt for Larry
3. quilt or wall hanging for Sharon
4. learn to tat
5. try my hand at knitting again   
6. matching quilts for mom &  DD one purple, one blue
7. Bear Paw quilt for pops
8. big quilt for JD and Nay
9. big quilt for Brit
10. big boy quilt for Abel
11. Worry Doll quilt for Hazel
12. quilt for Annette-purple, pink, blue
13. try my hand at beading
14. learn to needle tat
15. learn to how to do hairpin lace
16. Black quilt for Ray

UFO's

This is a list of my Unfinished Objects.  Not Unidentified Flying Objects.  The only way it would be an Unidentified Flying Object is if I were to throw a foreign object across the room in frustration.  LOL!!!

This list looks a little overwhelming....don't shake your head.  I get in my funks and don't feel like doing much of anything.  I've been real good about not getting in a funk in the last few months. BTW, there's still quite a bit of time to either put a big dent in it or get all done (as long as I don't get off on another tangent and start something else which I am prone to do).  =)

1. JD's baby quilt
2. Brit's lap quilt
3. king sized afghan
4. blue/green afghan
5. cat/dog cross stitch
6. foot print baby quilt
7. Indian wallhanging
8. Log Cabin
9. cat quilt
10. JD's car quilt
11. reindeer quilt
12. sock doily
13. pumpkin punch needle
14. CW quilt
15. Batik quilt
16. 2007 shop quilt
17. D9P  Oriental quilt
18. Pickle Dish quilt
19. Parrot wallhanging
20. Flower cross stitch
21. tablerunner/placemats
22. fall wall quilt  (not sure what this one is, but I guess that I will come across it one of these days)
23. Connie's quilt
24. Hazel's baby quilt
25. afghan for Hazel
26. quilted jacket
27. fuschia crocheted purse

A Star For a Little Princess

This is the afghan that I made for my granddaughter.  It was a fun little afghan to make.  I found the pattern at one of the yarn companies that posts free patterns online.

I did change the hook that it called for to a smaller one so that the stitches wouldn't look too loose.  Unfortunately, I crochet on the loose side....had to end up making the afghan a little bigger than the pattern called for too.  That was to compensate for the smaller hook and the fact that I wanted it to bigger than the pattern called for.

I made an afghan for each of my kids when they were born and now I am making afghans for my grandchildren as they come along.  I have learned to quilt since then.  Now the grands are getting a quilt along with their afghan.  When I get this one finished, it will be time to make my grandson a big boys quilt.  I have an idea for an eye spy quilt.  It will be different.....

Hazel's Quilt

I put aside the little boy's quilt to make my first granddaughter a quilt.  Can you see the mountain lion fabric?   I found it for 99 cents a yard.  How sweet that was!  I didn't plan on the colors to be Easter colors, but here they are.....

Whoweee!!!

I don't know about you, but I am so glad that the holidays are over.  I work in retail and it gets pretty hectic around the holidays.  Now it's back down to business as usual.  =)

I'm currently working on an afghan for my granddaughter who will be born sometime in March.  I can't wait for her to arrive.  I do love seeing the little girls all dressed up.  They are so cute.

I'll post a picture and comments when I get the afghan completed.  For now you can go to the Bernat website and look up Star Blanket #754.

My plans for tomorrow are to work all day on the baby quilt that I started for a friend of mine at work.  Well almost all day.  I've been avoiding it for way too long.  Pictures will follow....

As for my diet, well that's another story.  I went off the wagon around the holidays.  Only gained two pounds.  That's pretty good for me.  My plans are to get back on track tomorrow.

I saw something somewhere that if you cut out carbohydrates for two days a week it will help you lose weight.  That stands to reason because if you cut back the amount of carbs eat for even a day you will lose weight.

I tried counting points like Weight Watchers does, but that is just too much work for me.  I'm not that dedicated.  Not into watching the calories either.  Tried the diet where you ate nothing but protein and veggies as long as it wasn't a starch or a yellow veggie.  You also drank a cup of grapefruit juice with each meal.  Love grapefruits and the juice, but that was a bit much for me.

We used to eat cooked oatmeal or cereal(not the kind that has all the sugar in it) for breakfast when we were kids.  We had lunch at school and for dinner it was usually chicken, a veggie, and potatoes.  Us kids were active and we hardly ate junk food or drank pop.  Dad never kept that stuff in the house.  He did keep ice cream though.  We usually only got that twice a week.  Once in awhile he would split a bottle of pop or a candy bar with us too.  We were pretty healthy too.

Did you know that all of the fresh foods are on the outer perimeter of the grocery stores?   You need not go in the inner aisles.  That's where all of the processed foods are.  Granted there are processed foods in the outer perimeter too....there is also frozen veggies and fruits in the inner aisles too.  I like fresh or frozen veggies.  The canned stuff is just over processed and usually has way too much salt or other things added to it.  Yuck!!!

Thanks, to my friend from the land down under and the encouragement that she gives, I just might succeed in changing my eating lifestyle.  I'm hoping that I can be of some encouragement to her too.  =)