What have I been doing?

Hey there I am so proud of myself! I have been wanting to try my hand at broomstick lace for quite some time. Last night I finally got around to it. It was a bit tricky learning because I am left handed and there really aren’t tutorials out there for lefties. But I stuck with it and finally figured it out. I figured a small project would be best to learn with so I made up a dishcloth.

Last week I finished up the pattern for the 4th square for the Afghan/Lapghan Project. I am really excited about this one. It turned out really pretty. Here’s a tiny sneak peek:

                          

I also found some time to finish up three more afghan squares for the Afghan CAL on Ravelry. I think this afghan will be really pretty. It’s going to be hard to give it away.  For some reason, the pictures for the afghan squares won’t load up.  So, if you would like to see them, you can check them out on Ravelry.  My favorite is the Lacy Sun.  I also finished the Flower Burst and Lovely in Green (which I did not make in green because it didn’t fit in my color scheme.)  I hope you enjoy them.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Walk Now for Autism 2008

       

On Saturday, we went to the Walk Now for Autism event.  My brother helped with organizing the event so we showed up to give our support.  In our family, it is an important cause because my nephew has autism.  The walk was organized to help raise awarness about autism and earn funds to further research into treatments for autism.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  We were thinking we would be there for an hour or so.  I think we were actually there for about three hours.  It was a really impressive event.  It is going to be held annually so if you didn’t make it this year, you can always go next year.  Also, if you want to learn more about autism, you can visit the Autism Speaks website.  It’s a fabulous resource.

The walk was held at Cottonwood High School this year.  We arrived at Walk Now for Autism right as some skydivers were floating down to the football field.  Very cool!  It took us a few minutes to find my family group.  We stood in line for awhile waiting for the walk to begin.  There was some live music and clowns with balloons to keep everyone entertained.  There were some characters in costume too.  We saw storm troopers, Darth Vader, and Buzz Light Year.  There were some big sponsers there.  Bottled water was provided as well as milk, cereal, ice cream sandwiches, and ice cream dots.

On the walk we saw several groups that were wearing matching t-shirts.  Some of them had pictures of their family member affected by autism.  And there were some really clever group names there.  One team had named themselves Rally for Riley and I saw some cute sun visors with the team name of Parker’s Peeps.  We were there to support my nephew Alex and my brother has named the team Alexander Link.  We aren’t listed as team members but we went out and took a walk round the high school for Alex and donated a little to help.  It was really moving to see these families rallying for their loved ones.  Some of the groups had even worked out chants like “We love Riley, yes we do.  If you knew him, you would too!”  and a song about “We are Friendship Ministries.  We help children with special needs.”  It was really heartwarming to see the support and the great attendance.  They had to direct people to park in the neighborhoods and at Gold’s Gym because there were so many cars that the High School parking lots were filled up.

After the walk, we took the kids over to play in the jump tents and inflatable slides.  My wonderful hubby followed the boys from line to line, carrying three sets of shoes.  There was also a dance group that put on a fun performance.  Then he took them to visit the booths and get little party favors and prizes.  Finally, we packed up and headed home.  It was a really nice day.  Hopefully, we’ll see you there next year ;D  Have a great day!

The SweetTart

 

See that cute girl there?  Doesn’t she look so sweet?  Yesterday morning she helped wake her brother for the day by crooning to him “Tin-tin,  Ah wuv oo…”  I wish someone would wake me up with an I love you…  And she said it over and over several times throughout the day.  Such a sweet girl!

Of course, there is always a flip side to things.  Another new phrase around here is “No-no-no-no!  Get Away!”   Poor Grandma even received this sentiment over the phone.  I think some big brothers need to be a little sweeter to their sister… 

Have a great day!

Mmmm for the Month - April Edition

This month I am sharing a recipe that is a favorite around here. We use it for breakfast and sometimes dinners too. I make this in my biggest (rectangular) casserole dish. We always clear out the entire dish and the boys are still looking for more. Hopefully your family will love it just as much

Apple-pie Pancake Puff

Pancake Puff

6 Tbsp butter or margarine

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 425. Melt the butter in a 3 quart casserole dish. Beat eggs and milk together until foamy. Add flour and salt and beat well. Pour the batter into the butter in the casserole dish. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Spoon apples over the top of the pancake puff.

Stewed Apples

2 Tbsp melted butter or margarine

4 medium apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 tsp imitation vanilla

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

Combine ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer on the stove-top until apples are soft (about 10 minutes) Spoon over top of popover puff. If desired, top with a little whipped topping. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Have a great day!

Let’s decorate!

Yesterday I promised more options for the basket weave square.  I am going to start with the Simple Crochet Flower.  For the Simple Crochet Flower you will need approximately 50 inches of yarn per flower and an I hook.  If you want to be able to tie the crochet flowers to your afghan square, leave your beginning and ending yarn tails about 7 inches long.  If you would rather not have the bows on the other side of your square, you can whipstitch the flowers to your afghan square.

Simple Crochet Flower

ch 4, join to form ring. 

ch 1, sc in ring, (ch 4, sc in ring) 4 times, ch 4, join to beg ch 1.  Bind off. 

 

For the Spoolie Flowers, you will need approximately 40 inches of yarn and the pink Knifty Knitter Spool Loom plus a tapestry needle.  You will be wrapping the end with 5 pegs.  If you want to be able to tie your loom flowers to the afghan square, leave your beginning and ending yarn tails about 7 inches long. 

Spoolie Flowers

Using the end of the Spool Knitter with 5 pegs, hold the loom so that one peg is at the top (the pegs should resemble a star shape).   

The top most peg will be peg 3 for this pattern.  It is easiest to thread your working yarn onto a tapestry needle at this point.  Leaving a 7 inch tail, take your working yarn between pegs 1 and 5.  Wrap the yarn around peg 3 from left to right. 

Take your working yarn across the center and wrap around peg 1 from right to left.

Cross the center again and wrap peg 4 from left to right.  Cross to peg 2 and wrap the peg from left to right. 

Cross to peg 5 and wrap from right to left. 

Repeat these steps one more time.  There should be 2 loops on all pegs. 

Pull the working yarn down through the center of the loops on peg 3.  (Be careful not to pierce the loops with your needle) 

Take your working yarn under the petals and bring the working yarn up through the center of the loops on peg 5. 

Take the yarn back down through the loops on peg 2.  Take your working yarn under the petals again and bring it back up through the loops on peg 4.  Pull the working yarn down through the center of the loops on peg 1. 

Now you will weave the working yarn over and under the loops on the peg, going around the center twice.  This will give a nice circle outline to the center of the flower. 

Sew the working yarn through the bottom of the flower’s center. 

Remove the flower from the Spool Knitter by picking the loops over the pegs. 

    

Embroidery Options

Finally, I have some additional embroidery options for you.  I have drawn up a few templates that you can use to embroider your afghan squares instead of the flowers, if you so choose.  These are rather small designs and would be best worked in embroidery floss, rather than yarn.  I would work the outline in backstitch and the eyes with french knots.  Also, feel free to use these little sketches however you would like.  You can use them for other embroidery projects, or for notecards, or whatever strikes your fancy.  I hope you like them :o)

 Download Embroidery Sketches

 Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

A block with options…

Today kicks off the second Project Afghan/Lapghan class over at the Loom Class Group on Yahoo. The pattern is Flowers in my Baskets. It is a simple basketweave pattern decorated with flowers. The pattern describes how to embellish the square with embroidery. Not everyone enjoys embroidery so I wanted to talk about a few other options for this square. The first and simplest option would be to leave the square undecorated. 

As you can see, this square looks nice without the embroidery. However, if you are feeling like doing a little decorating, there are a few options. You can follow the pattern and embroider on your square.

    

The drawback with this option (in my opinion) is that the embroidery creates a right side and a wrong side for the block. This picture shows how the back will look after embroidering.

I am thinking the wrong side could be left as it is or decorated by adding some pretty felt shapes or squares.

Another option for this block would be to make Loom Blooms with the spool knitter and tie them on to your square. I really like how this turns out.

    

I love this option because both sides of the square are adorable. I’ve tied the loom blooms on the square with double knots. Then I made a bow and double tied that too. They should be quite secure.  This is how it looks on the other side.

    

A final suggestion would be some Simple Crochet Flowers. These can be attached with the same method as the Loom Blooms and so both sides of the square would be attractive with this option too.  I will have pictures of the crochet flowers for you tomorrow. 

For an afghan that needs to be less feminine, the block could be embroidered with sunbursts, stars, leaves, etc. - or just left undecorated.

Tomorrow I will post the instructions for the Simple Crocheted Flowers and the Loom Blooms so we’ll see you then Have a great day!

Quilly- Nilly

I’ve been trying my hand at quilling.  It is a pretty fun paper craft.  You can learn how to make some of the basic shapes used in quilling here.  Anyway, here are my first attempts at quilling:

                         

                                     

                                  

 

It’s a pretty fun craft and I think I will definitely be playing around with it once in awhile.  Have a great day! 

Mmmm for the Month - March Edition

Look at that. I waited to the very last day of the month to give the mmmm for the month. It’s been pretty busy around here. But here I am with something delicious to share Also, I changed the title to Mmmm for the Month. It makes more sense to me since I have been doing one of these each month since January. So without further ado:

Cheesecake Brownies

1 brownie mix, plus ingredients needed to make brownies

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 egg

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

 

Prepare the brownie mix as directed. Spread in greased pan. Combine cream cheese, egg, vanilla and sugar. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the brownie mix. Drag a knife through the batter to swirl if desired. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, then at 300 for 15 minutes. Cheesecake brownies are done when a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely. Store any left overs in the refrigerator.

 

My boys really like this one. Even the finicky boy who doesn’t care for cream cheese (or much of anything else for that matter) Anyway, I hope you like the recipe! Have a great day!

A little photo story…

Found on the cupboard this morning after the kids were delivered to school:

Can you tell what is inside?

Gahhhhhh!!!!

What Easter brought…

Happy Easter everyone : )

I hope that you have a wonderful day and that your family can be close by.

I was able to finish my Center Heart Square.  I chose it as a companion square to the February afghan block on the Ravelry CAL.  Here it is:

And we had one other Easter ’surprise’:

We have been fighting strep throat over here.  Everyone has been on antibiotics since last Sunday.  Apparently my littlest peep didn’t respond to the antibiotics.  So she broke out in this yucky rash yesterday.  She had to get an injection today.  Poor baby :(  Well, hopefully she will be able to get rid of the strep now.

Have a wonderful Easter and Spring Break!