January's Project of the Month--Crochet a Dishcloth

Well, I did it! I learned how to crochet a dishcloth. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that I want to develop a new skill or do something I've never done before every month in 2012. I'd never crocheted before this month and I am happy to say that I now feel confident enough about my skills that I think I can teach the girls how to crochet over the next few months. I won't go so far as to say that I can make anything impressive like an afghan, but I do well enough to competently make what I want to make which is dishcloths.

Honestly, I've always looked at crocheting as being difficult. If you look at it being done by someone else and you have never even held crochet hooks before, it looks fairly complex. Especially if you are watching someone who has been doing it for a while and is FAST. I have had various people say they would teach me sometime over the years, but that never happened (probably because I never pushed the issue since I thought I would be all thumbs at it and wanted to avoid looking silly). 

Well, last month when I was Christmas shopping I was wandering down the craft aisle looking for supplies to put in the girls' Christmas gifts (sewing baskets), and I happened to see a set of crochet hooks for sale. I don't know what made me toss them into my shopping cart (maybe it was the four skeins of yarn a friend gave me a few months ago?), but I did it.

Fast forward to after Christmas and the kids have been outside playing, climbing trees and tramping through the "enchanted forest." Cowboy runs in crying because he's caught his favorite scarf (from Lady L.) on a branch and a portion of it unraveled. Aha! I say. I have a crochet hook. Maybe I can fix it...I manage to figure out enough by trial and error to passably repair the scarf, Cowboy is grateful and very happy, and I am intrigued. Maybe crocheting is not so hard after all...

A few days later I came up with my "project of the month" plan, and I decided it was time to just do it...let's learn to crochet! Well, I tried figuring it out using an excellent book my mom loaned me, but alas, the abbreviations and terms made no sense to me because I was starting at ground zero...absolutely no experience at all. I've never even watched someone crochet regularly! I needed to come up with another way to learn, but my friend who crochets and my mom were busy, not to mention, it was usually late at night when I had extra time on my hands, so I thought, "Why not see what the internet has to offer?"

Wouldn't you know that YouTube has loads of free videos on how to crochet? It turns out that a video was exactly what I needed (though Mom helped me one evening to fix my hand position...thanks, Mom!). 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Mikey is my favorite teacher. It is a little bit different having a guy as a crochet teacher (at least my kids thought so...they all came up at one time or another and said, "A boy?????"...even Boo thought it was funny!!). I think since Mikey is a guy, he doesn't assume you know everything, so he explains it all. I read once that women do better with learning to shoot in boot camp than guys because they don't have preconceived notions about knowing what to do and they are more willing to listen and take all advice. Maybe this is a similar thing...but sort of in reverse, and backwards, well, maybe you get what I mean.



Another basic lesson with Mikey. I don't know how much the two lessons differ, so I am posting both.



I wound up figuring this out on my own (we played around with making necklaces and bracelets out of these for a few days by adding beads to the chains), but this video is a good one.



This lady is very deliberately slow which is good when you are just starting. I would also start and stop the video while I practiced. I especially liked how she had the names of the stitches written on a white board for you to see...something about the written words plus the talking helped me, not to mention the fact that she shows what all those abbreviations mean in the crochet patterns!



Once you have the basics, I found that this video demonstrates five important stitches very effectively.



Here is one more version of four important stitches.

Here are a few websites with printed instructions and/or patterns:
Basic stitches
Picture Tutorial: How to Crochet
Basic Crochet Patterns and Charts
Dish and Washcloth Mania
Knitterly Stuff Basic Washcloth
Crochet n'Crafts Dishcloth
Peaches n' Cream Free Kitchen Patterns
The Good Life Spa Cloth Pattern

Well, here is how my first attempts turned out:

I used the yarn I had available and played around with the stitches until I felt fairly confident (that took about a week). Along the way, I wound up making about a dozen bracelets and necklaces for the kids, a few bookmarks, two "blankets" for small dollies, and a doll apron, hat, and shawl.

Finally I buckled down for the long haul and made this while watching a show one evening...

I mailed it to my grandmother since she likes to wash her dishes every morning to help make her hands feel better (the warm water soothes her RA). She was pleased as punch and actually said she'd never had a washcloth of this type before. I couldn't believe it...I thought these were a classic! I am glad I was able to introduce her to the best kind of washcloth in the world. Nubby, yet soft. Durable, yet pretty.

After a few more blue washcloths (which I am mailing to the grandmas), I finally went to Walmart and picked up some green and white cotton yarn (the type usually used for making washcloths). Green is the color I use in my kitchen (sage green), and white, of course, goes with anything. I also picked up a few of the darning-type needles for tucking in the ends of the yarn. I'd been using the small crochet hook, and that is harder. 

I think this washcloth turned out pretty well...I decided to keep this one. ;-) It took me the length of the movie "A Mile in His Shoes" to do from start to finish. Not too bad! Watching Mikey's video repeatedly helped me figure out the hand position that works for me and is most conducive to speeding things up and increasing my efficiency.

While I crocheted, Ladybug worked on her own project-of-the-next-few-months...an apron for herself. She got her sewing basket for Christmas and has been practicing sewing buttons and making doll pillows.

To make the apron, she gathered scraps from my sewing basket, found a small apron to use as a template, and laid out the cloth in a way that was pleasing to her. She is going to sew the pieces together, then we will cut out a pattern, trim the cloth, and she will sew the edges and trim the apron. She is doing a fantastic job!!

Firefly wants in on the fun, too, so she plans to break out the Build-a-Bear kit her Bubba bought her for Christmas the next time we have a sewing day. It's going to be so wonderful sewing with my two little ladies...and to think, this is just the beginning. *grin*

Next month, I plan to organize our home library. We will be sorting the books into genres and topics, labeling their spines, putting them into labeled baskets or on designated shelves, and perhaps even cataloging what we have. I have been wanting to do this for a loooooong time. The kids are very excited about this and both Ladybug and Tex have offered to be the official "librarians." Check back next month to see how my next monthly challenge goes!

Blessings,

My Monthly Challenges for 2012

Instead of making hard to keep resolutions this year, I have decided that each month in 2012, I am going to learn or do something I have been wanting to do, but have been putting off for whatever reason. It doesn't have to be something huge, but I would like it to be something that requires me to learn a new skill, or maybe something I have previously started, but not completed. Since each thing will be something I want to do, and will find enjoyable (if challenging), I am hoping that it won't be so tough to keep going on this project all year.

So far I have lots of ideas, but I am not sure which ones will work out each month, so I am going to keep this goal-of-the-month idea fairly loose. That way it will stay fun and not be high-pressure. I want the kids to be able to participate as much as possible, and to see me developing new skills and trying new things. That way they will get the idea that we are lifelong learners, and that if we put our minds to something, we can accomplish a lot and do things we never imagined we could...even if they are something we never thought we could master.

I want the kids to see me finding different ways of developing the new skills: from consulting friends, to looking in books, from watching videos on youtube, to taking a class. I also want them to understand that working at something can be FUN, not just drudgery. We are only given a certain number of hours here on earth...why waste them doing frivolous things when we can be doing things that have value to us and to others?

Here are some of my ideas:

• Learn to crochet dishcloths
• Learn to crochet towel toppers (the ones that button onto your oven handle)
• Learn to knit a scarf and/or hat
• Finish the yoyo quilt top that I plan to use as a tablecloth for our dining room table
• Make my own bath soap
• Make my own natural cleaning supplies and beauty products
• Make baking mixes and soup mixes from scratch (and store them for easy use)
• Organize our household library
• Get good at making bread using the Bosch mixer and Nutrimill grain mill
• Edge a hankie with the vintage supplies I got at the antique mall
• Learn to do fun girlie hairstyles on my daughters 
• Make a skirt out of blue jeans
• Make a skirt from scratch
• Trim and hem my lace curtain panels
• Learn to can veggies (I do freezer jams already)
• Learn to play another classical tune on the piano (I have a limited repertoire)
• Sew a set of cloth napkins for our family
• Go geocaching with the kids
• Sew a replica of the stitched picture I bought my SIL for Christmas (I wanted to keep it sooo badly!)
• Get my camera fixed and actually read the manual to learn how to use all of the settings!
• Clean and fix up our enclosed front porch so we can use it this spring/summer
• Get certified to foster/adopt

I will add more ideas as I think of them. If you have any suggestions of things you like to do that you think I might like to try, feel free to comment!

Blessings,

What Do You Do When You Aren't Blogging?

I've been really busy this last week. You might not think so since I haven't blogged much about anything, but it's because I've been busy that I haven't had much time to blog. It's not like I am not busy when I DO blog, but, those of you who blog know that you have to make choices with your time, and if you choose to be on your computer, well, that can eat up a huge chunk of your day...unless you are very careful. 

Because I am not always perfectly good at being careful about my computer time, since the beginning of December, I have been focusing my energies towards doing things to celebrate the season with my family, as well as making things for Christmas gifts, and, okay, I can admit it, I have gotten caught up in an excellent series of books my son, Tex, recommended. And then there has been the cleaning and the organizing. I think a cleaning bug bit me sometime last week and we have been going gangbusters ever since. I just can't reconcile putting pretty decorations on top of dusty and disorganized furniture, so we are doing one room at a time, until it is all done. Hopefully BEFORE Christmas gets here!!

Well, here's a glimpse of some of what I've been doing. If you've been making anything for Christmas at your house, I'd love to hear about it, so leave me a comment and a link to your blog post about it...whenever you get around to blogging about it, that is, and I don't mind at all if it takes a while.

I wish I'd been smart enough to take a "before picture," but my enthusiasm for my idea overtook my blogging sense. These used to be cute overalls that Firefly outgrew. We found them when we spent a day culling too small and too large (hand me down) pants from all the kids' wardrobes, and putting those that needed repair into my fix-it basket. After all, I can't justify watching those Christmas movies unless my hands are busy. Do you know what I mean?

In any case, I thought these overalls were too cute to throw away. I considered donating them, but then it hit me...why donate them when I could make something useful out of them? Here is what I came up with...a handbag. Or a tote bag. Whichever you prefer.

This will be a bag for Firefly to carry her picture Bible, pad, and crayons in to church. Or it could be a bag for her to carry her sewing in. She can decide when I give it to her on Christmas. I know she is going to LOVE it. I want one now!

Actually, I thought up the idea when I realized a very adorable pocket on the front of the pants would make the perfect patch for her favorite pair of jeans which had a small hole in the knee. But I couldn't reconcile using the pocket (and ruining the overalls), if I couldn't use the rest of the overalls for something else. So I thought about it and decided that if I cut off the legs, it looked kind of like a bag, and it appeared to be just about Firefly's size.

I lined it with an old dark blue tee shirt, and made the bottoms of the pant legs into pockets. I added salvaged embellishments from elsewhere on the overalls to the front and voila...it's done!! Well, actually, I still have to attach the pockets, but I am almost finished. I've been sewing it all by hand, since that is how I prefer to work, so it is taking longer than if I'd used a sewing machine, but I have been appreciating the sense of accomplishment (and the excuse to sit down and enjoy a Christmas movie with the kids...we loved The Christmas Bunny!). 

I found a cute pair of slightly larger overalls with pink and purple plaid pockets to make Ladybug a bag, too (they do still fit her, but we decided that the girls have enough pants and skirts to make the overalls unnecessary), and another more manly pair of outgrown ones for Cowboy. I may try to make the overalls straps into backpack straps instead of going for the handbag look for his. I hope I can get them both finished by Christmas. I may have to resort to the machine to accomplish that, though. Bubba gave me a whole stack of holey jeans of his the other evening and I can't wait to come up with a use for them!!

If you've ever done anything like this and have a link to share, I'd love to check out what you did. Thanks!!

Blessings to you this Christmas season...I pray you are enjoying and appreciating every moment of it.

Heather

Gratitude Challenge--Operation Christmas Child

Ladybug and Firefly helped me take a receiving blanket and make a dolly blanket and pillow out of it to include with the dolly we included in the box we made for a girl. It was a special afternoon and we covered our handiwork with many prayers for the recipient.

For the last several years, my parents have been in charge of handling Operation Christmas Child at their church. Each year, Tex and a few of his friends, stay over night at Nanny and Poppy's house for the weekend, so they can help on the biggest collection days. This is such an incredible blessing to us as a family. It gives my younger ones an opportunity to reach out to others by helping to fill a few boxes, and my older ones the chance to see directly what goes on at the collection sites, and to experience the joy of collecting so many boxes. Imagine all of the grateful smiles and ful hearts that will come from such a small effort on our part...and such a large effort on the part of those who organize the main operations, such as my parents, and those in the main collection centers locally, and nationally. Some day I'd love for us to go as a family and help deliver the boxes, but just imagining it, and praying for the young lives who will be touched by the many heartfelt gifts, makes me smile.

Cowboy helped me pick out dinosaurs, cars, trucks, a ball, and a drawing board for a little boy. We hope he will like his new toys!

Welcome to the Quilt Show!

One of the original buildings. I thought it was pretty.

Every year our small community hosts a small Quilt Show. They open various historic buildings and fill them with quilts ladies in the local quilting guilds have made, and erect tents in the central " courthouse green" area for vendors of quilting supplies and other sewing materials.

Welcome to the show!

They even set up chairs in one tent and host lectures on various quilting topics every hour or so. Last year, our favorite lecture was about how to judge the age of a quilt by examining the fabrics and the style of quilt (my favorite tip: a quilt is only as old as it's most recent fabric...duh, right? Well, I'd not really thought of that before and it was a revelation to me!). The entry fee for the show is a whopping two dollars, which covers admission for both days of the show...not quite free, but close. I LOVE it!

I'd love to sit here with a friend and while the afternoon away...

This year, my mom and I attended on Friday, since the forecast was rain for all day Saturday (and rain all day it did!), and antique (or new) quilts and rain do not mix well...neither does rain encourage two ladies to have a good time in the out of doors, if the general preference is to stay dry.

Looking for that special something...Do I need another project? 

Hmmmm....

On our way to the show, we checked out the quilting store and a new antique store, but had no luck finding treasures in either place. That's okay, because I didn't really want to spend money, and if I'd found something charming, I might have had to get it!

Mom found this interesting piece using small yo-yos, but alas, it was not for sale. I did, however, get a photo, so now I can copy it!

Once we got to the show, we checked out the indoor display of how quilts had been used historically to aid in slaves find their way using The Underground Railroad. There was an appraiser there, too, who for a fee would look at old quilts and give you an approximate value for them.

The Flying Geese pattern told them to go in the direction the geese were migrating.

In an adjacent area, we met a lovely lady who told me some fascinating facts about our local area, and offered us some interesting handouts to send with Flat Stanley when we send him off next week. I got a coloring book of local sites for my kids to use, and a few postcards, too.

Next, we wandered around the booths, looking at the beautiful fabrics in a myriad of colors. There were dozens of interesting and colorful books you could buy on the topics of quilting and sewing, a wide assortment of tools, and many well-crafted items you could snap up.

Mom bought a book, and she was kind enough to also buy an issue of Mary Jane's Farm for us to share because it talked about quilting, not to mention all the lovely photos and the articles about canning and other country topics in it.

One of these days I need to subscribe to this magazine...now there's a good Christmas gift idea!

Our last stop at the quilt show was to check out the display of quilts people had made during the year at various quilting guild meetings. Some of them were a bit intimidating to an amateur like myself, but they were all impressive works of art.

This was my favorite. It is a quilt depicting the artist's home and neighborhood. Doesn't it look like somewhere you'd like to visit?

There were also some that were family heirlooms folks had been kind enough to share, and it was fascinating to read the stories behind how different ladies had chosen their patterns, fabrics, or the histories behind the older quilts.

These were two of our favorites: the one on the top depicts the state flowers for all fifty states. The one on the bottom shows gorgeous and colorful butterflies and irises. I LOVE that combination!

On our way out we stopped at the County Museum to pick up a sticker for our county tour sheet. The kind lady from our earlier stop had clued me in to the fact that various local stops keep stickers which you collect and put on a sheet of paper, then once you have collected a certain number, you send it in and get a prize. Cool, huh?! I collected three just in the one trip, and plan to get more with the kids when we use our flea market find of a local tour guidebook to explore our town over the next year.

We walked back toward the car, and I convinced Nanny to let me treat her to lunch at my favorite restaurant. It has a very classy decor, they play mellow Sinatra-style tunes (sometimes sung by a favorite of mine, Michael Buble, and other times, by the original Rat Pack members), and the service is always excellent. The food is absolutely divine...I ordered my favorite, the quiche-of-the-day (from Quiche Lorraine to Vegetarian Quiche...all are delicious), served with a garden salad, and Nanny had another local favorite, the fish and chips. Topped off with a cold raspberry sweet tea, it was a marvelous end to a refreshing day.

On our way to the restaurant, we passed one of the stops on our travel guide's tour...our fire department's fire hydrant.

Of course, all that quilting inspired me to work on my own quilts this week. I am not so ambitious at this point (or so brave) to think that I can take on the piecing and stitching of an entire quilt from scratch at this point, but I do like to "rescue" old quilts that I find at flea markets and yard sales for bargain prices. I usually don't spend more than twenty bucks or so on an old quilt (though I think the royal blue one below might have cost a bit more...it's my best one), and I do enjoy sitting down and mending the worn spots to give them a new lease on life. 

I worked on this one first, since it required the fewest repairs. Most of the problems were simply areas of stitching that had loosened and needed fixing. It looks like new now!

I am not so much a "put it on display" person, as a "use it for what it was made for" sort of person, so these are the blankets you will find being gently used on our beds or for picnics. I figure if they are still around after years of use by others, with care, they will last years more being used by us. One of these days, I'd like to learn more about the patterns and fabrics on these pieces, but for now, I am just having fun finding them, repairing them by hand, and giving them a home where they will be appreciated.

Since I finished the other quilt, I began working on these. They have more places that need patches and larger rips that need stitching...but they are nice, just the same. Not perfect, but then, neither am I!

Quilting is an art form that has been around for a long time and I am loving learning about it with my mom and my daughters. After we got back from the quilt show, Ladybug asked if she could make something while I stitched on my old quilts, so I found her two pieces of fabric and she is making a pillow for her dolls. 

From me to my girls, from my mom to me, generation to generation, the face of quilting may have changed (it's more commercialized now, and more of a hobby than a necessity), but the appreciation of it and the joy to be found in it remains the same.

Do you quilt? If you do, please share a link to your own quilting stories in the comments section. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Blessings,

Heather

YoYo Quilt Update

I finished mending the piece of yoyo quilt that I found at the antique mall.

Here is what it looks like now:

It is laying on our bed, which is a queen-sized bed, if that gives you an idea of the quilt's size.

Isn't it pretty? I had to fill in some places where yoyos were missing, so I tried to choose fabrics that were old-fashioned. My mom helped me out by providing material from her well-stocked scrap bin (she is a quilter). Thank you, Mom!! She even gave me some scraps which were cut from old shirts and dresses of my great-grandmothers. That makes the fabric extra-special to me. Not only is the history of the person who made this quilt sewn up in it, but now mine is as well! I also had to reconnect quite a few of the yoyos, but that is a very quick process. I found it both relaxing and rewarding to repair this piece of the past. I have been so blessed by the opportunity to do this.

YoYo quilts are so interesting...this one has a colorful variety of fabrics from many periods in it.

Ladybug showed an avid interest in sewing while I was working on some yoyos one night, so I gave her two of the yoyos I removed from the piece (I took out two that were orange because it is not a color I use in my decorating) and she stitched them together to make a tiny coin purse for her daddy. What fun! He took it with him on his recent trip out of town and I'll bet it makes him smile whenever he pulls it out of his coat pocket...

These are mostly newer fabrics, but they look old.

I am working on making more yoyos out of old-looking fabrics so I can add to the section of quilt I have. I have decided that I am going to add to it until it is an oval shape large enough to cover my dining room table. Once it is done, I am going to ask Hubby to buy me a piece of glass with finished edges to fit over the table to protect the yoyos...I imagine it will be a bit pricey, but it can be my Mother's Day/birthday gift, if he likes. It will be very special to be able to see the fruits of my labor (and whoever else worked on this lovely piece) displayed in an area we use multiple times every day. I do so dislike having nice things packed away where you never see them and can't really use and appreciate them. I am much more of the philosphy that if you can't enjoy it and use it, then why not pass it on to someone who can...at least, I am trying to get there (just don't ask to see inisde my garage...as I've said before, I am a work in progress!)

I have decided that I do find a simple pleasure in sewing, though I don't have as much time to do it as I'd like. The idea of making a WHOLE quilt from scratch still intimidates me, but the idea of fixing up old ones is nice and is a good fit for me right now. I think I might post a yoyo tutorial sometime in the future because making yoyos is SO simple, if you like sewing and have never done it before, you will likely find you LOVE it, too. There are so many ways to use yoyos...you can add them to potholders to dress them up, you can make table runners out of them, you can use four of them and some fabric underneath to make coasters, and I imagine the other possiblities are endless. I wonder what I might find if I Googled it? I will have to do that sometime. Check back in a week or two for that yoyo tutorial and maybe some links to ideas for using yoyos to make all sorts of crafty items!

Here is a link to my previous post on the yoyo quilt: A YoYo Quilt Story.

If you have any posts about quilts you have worked on, please leave me a note and a link!

Blessings,

Heather