Tulip Time

Welkom vrienden!

(that's Dutch for Welcome Friends)

Did you know there is a REAL festival called Tulip Time?

Yes there is ... it starts the end of this week in Holland, MI.  

That is where my Grandparents, Parents, and Husband grew up.  =)  

I bought these tulips this week because they reminded me of Tulip Time.

I suppose that means I really am a Dutch Girl.  =)

Liefde altijd,

(Dutch for Love Always)

Erin

Clay Cafe

Last Friday was Abigail's 7th Birthday.  

Here are a few photos from her birthday party the following day.

Very Excited for the Party to Start.  =)

All here ... Let's Begin!

Working with such Concentration ... I decided to Paint along with the Girls, too.  =)

Opening Presents ... Abigail received very thoughtful, lovely gifts.  =)

This was our first "real" party and it was a lot of fun.  I hope Abigail made some memories that she'll remember when she is all Grown Up.  =)  Do you have any nice Birthday Party Memories?

Happy Friday and Enjoy the Weekend!

Erin

Happiness Is ...

ONE

Crocheting blocks together while sitting on my NEW family room furniture.

  

TWO

Sleeping under freshly laundered sheets.

THREE

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in 8 yummy colors.  

(It's a Mother's Day present so you won't see it for a couple more weeks  =)  )

FOUR

Arranging my Delft collection on shelves that Yours Truly put up by herself.

FIVE

 Spending time with my mommy who came for a visit this week.

SIX

Seeing this rug in front of the washer & dryer every time I do the not-so-fun task of laundry.

SEVEN

Getting Lovely comments and emails from You!

Love Always,

Erin

Wee Bit of Blogger's Block

It happens to us all at some point.  

I have SOOOOOOO many things I want to write about ... my brain feels very cluttered with all my ideas. 

And at the same time I have NOOOOOOOO idea what to write about.

  

I keep blaming it on the rainy, cloudy weather we've had ALL April.

"This is crappy weather for taking blog pictures!!!" 

So please leave me a comment with some Post Ideas.  =)

I'm hoping that will get my Creative Writing Juices flowing so that I get my Blog MoJo back.

Love Always,

Erin

A Good Friday ...

No school today!

Abigail's 7th Birthday!

New Ektorp furniture is being delivered this afternoon!

New  DVDs to watch -- Emily of New Moon -- while we wait for Furniture Delivery!

 Abigail is stitching Plastic Canvas Squares using the leftover wool yarn from my Granny Blanket.  I do the first 3 or 4 stitches to fasten the yarn but she does all the rest.  =)

Love Always & May you have a Wonderful Easter Weekend!

Erin

Mid Week Musing

I am enjoying my time at home today.  Yesterday I spent HOURS driving here, there and everywhere to get a PA drivers license and plates for my car.  It rained all day so that did not make the job very pleasant.  =(

This morning I mixed up dough so I can make Home Made Pizza for supper.  My Cooking and Baking Mojo is slowly coming back!!   I even have Homemade Pizza Sauce in the refrigerator.  =)  Don't you wish you pop over for a bite this evening?!?!  

Projects after projects are flying off my hook.  I had a bad case of Start-itis last fall so I've been finishing those up this Spring.  It is very satisfying indeed and I can't wait to share them with you!  But I must be patient and type a proper post for each project.

I will leave you with one picture.  =)  

Abigail's birthday is Friday and we are having a little party for her on Saturday morning with all the girls in her class.  There are 6 of them total and we are going to paint pottery at a local shop.  Such fun!  Here are the "Thank-You-For-Coming-to-my-Party" favors:

Little crocheted pouches filled with little girl loot (stickers, candy, nail polish, etc). 

Enjoy your Wednesday ... love always!

Erin

Wagon Wheel Potholder

I was playing with my cotton stash one Saturday and this came off my hook:

The pattern for the circle was from Ravelry ... such a source of inspiration!!!

The border is my own ... I saw something like it on Flickr and thought it was so pretty!  It lays so nicely with the curve of the potholder.  There is nothing I detest more then puckered borders. 

Miss A thought it matched her tea set perfectly!

PROJECT INFO

Yarn - Rico Creative Cotton ... "Lucy Pack" colors purchased from First4Yarns

Hook - Susan Bates #7 hook (4.5mm) purchased from Knit Picks

Pattern - free off Ravelry, but I don't remember the exact name ... will update with link when I find it.  =)  Found it!

Happy Hooking ... Love,

Erin

Rainbow Granny Blanket ... PATTERN

This pattern came out of my head and onto paper much easier then I anticipated.  =)  So let's get started:

YARN

Blocks:

 Patons Classic Wool

Bright Red (BR) -- Currant (CR) -- Water Chestnut (WC) -- Old Gold (OG)

Lemongrass (LM) -- Leaf Green (LG) -- Emerald (EM) -- Aquamarine (AQ)

Royal Blue (RB) -- Royal Purple (RP) -- Orchid (OR)

Checkerboard Border:

Patons Classic Wool - Dark Charcoal

Lions Brand Fisherman's Wool - Natural

It took a bit of searching to find all the colors but my tenacity paid off.  =)  I used up pretty much every bit of each skein of color and even had to dip into my leftover basket to finish off a few rounds.  But it all worked out in the end.  =)

HOOK

I used my good and faithful Susan Bates size H hook ... lovely as always, my dear!

SIZE

5 round Granny Square  - this is my favorite tutorial if you need a little refresher course.  =)

63 squares (7 across x 9 down)

 

COLOR SEQUENCES

Make 3 of each, following the abbreviations next to the colors:

• Bright Red, Currant, Water Chestnut, Old Gold , Lemongrass
• Leaf Green, Emerald, Aquamarine, Royal Blue, Royal Purple
• Orchid, Bright Red, Currant, Water Chestnut, Old Gold
• Lemongrass, Leaf Green, Emerald, Aquamarine, Royal Blue
• Royal Purple, Orchid, Bright Red, Currant, Water Chestnut
• Old Gold, Lemongrass, Leaf Green, Emerald, Aquamarine
• Royal Blue, Royal Purple, Orchid, Bright Red, Currant
• Water Chestnut, Old Gold, Lemongrass, Leaf Green, Emerald
• Aquamarine, Royal Blue, Royal Purple, Orchid, Bright Red
• Curant, Water Chestnut, Old Gold, Lemongrass, Leaf Green
• Emerald, Aquamarine, Royal Blue, Royal Purple, Orchid
• Lemongrass, Old Gold, Water Chestnut, Currant, Bright Red
• Royal Purple, Royal Blue, Aquamarine, Emerald, Leaf Green
• Old Gold, Water Chestnut, Currant, Bright Red, Orchid
• Royal Blue, Aquamarine, Emerald, Leaf Green, Lemongrass
• Water Chestnut, Currant, Bright Red, Orchid, Royal Purple
• Aquamarine, Emerald, Leaf Green, Lemongrass, Old Gold
• Currant, Bright Red, Orchid, Royal Purple, Royal Blue
• Emerald, Leaf Green, Lemongrass, Old Gold, Water Chestnut
• Bright Red, Orchid, Royal Purple, Royal Blue, Aquamarine
• Leaf Green, Lemongrass, Old Gold, Water Chestnut, Currant
• Orchid, Royal Purple, Royal Blue, Aquamarine, Emerald

ASSEMBLY

I decided not to block the granny squares before adding the final border and joining them together.  That was my choice ... you may feel free to block them if that's your thing.  =)  Lay them out on the floor in a please arrangement (remember 7 across and 9 down).

Each square has two rounds of border color and it was in the second round that I used the Join as You Go method of connecting it to it's neighboring square.  Worked out just ducky ... pleased as punch with the results!

BORDER

Very Simple ... 

First Row - granny clusters all around the blanket with no chain one between clusters

I followed this technique to combat any "ripple effect" that is so common in crocheted blankets.  It works like a charm!

Second row  - chain 4, slip stitch in space between 3 DC cluster.  Repeat this around blanket so you have little "loops."

Third row - 5 single crochet in each "loop" all around the blanket.  These makes a very simple but pretty scallop.  

I just re-read this post and it makes sense ... to me.  =)  Please, please, please post questions or email if you'd like to me explain something differently.  

Love always,

Erin

Rainbow Granny Reveal!!!!!!!

Remember these Grannies that I posted about back in October 2010???

Remember how I didn't know what color to use for the Final Round?

I figured it ALL out ... and it's DONE!

I  c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e.l.y enjoyed ever stitch of creating this blanket!!!

Choosing the yarn.

Working out the color sequences.

Laying out the blocks ... Joining as You Go.

Darning in Gobs and Gobs of ends.  =)

Border #1 ... nah.

Border #2 ... eeh.

Border #3 ... perfect!

 One last picture ... looking so beautiful on my bed.  =)

I'm still very giddy with happiness at actually finishing this blanket so when my feet finally touch the ground, I will post  the Vital Statistics and Pattern.  =) 

Love always,

Erin

Granny Stripe Project Bag

One Friday morning I was struck with the idea to crochet a bag.  So I started with this pattern and morphed it with that pattern and ran into a brick wall when it came to the mesh pattern that formed the sides.  =)  Inspiration struck while trolling through Ravelry's pattern database.  Hooky ... hooky .... hooky ... and I was done!

Isn't it dreamy?!?!?  I popped a project inside and took it for a test run to the LYS.  Came home, tweaked the handles, and declared it Finished and Perfect.  =)

 

Yes, my dears, you are not seeing things ... that is a Whale Tail Door Knocker on my front door.  When we first looked through the house, I thought it was Hideous but now I rather like it.  =)  It is the perfect bag hook for blog photos and my yellow front door makes such a nice background.  Today it looks rather pale but that is because it is Gloomy outside.

Enough ... onto the Important Information:

Yarn - Rico Creative Cotton (Lucy Pack)

Hook - 4.5mm Susan Bates

Pattern - my own but I will share it with you as soon as I write it up.  =)

Love always,

Erin 

The Tale of Crazy Quilt

There once was a dear woman  who made lots and lots of quilts.  Some remained quilt tops longer then anticipated so that the young girl for whom it was made became a young woman and really wasn't into bright colored fabrics printed with flowers and fruit anymore.  =)

So this dear woman gives the quilt top to a Dutch Girl who has a Little Miss who loves bright colors and flowers with all her heart.  The Dutch Girl picks out the perfect backing fabric and gives it to the Dutch Grandma to hand quilt with loving care.

After many, many months of diligent work and then a few more months tucked away during The Move, the quilt receives a pretty yellow binding, is washed and dried to crinkly perfection, and placed upon the bed of Little Miss.   

The End.

Love always,

Erin

Favorite Corners

In the Studio ... I sewed the binding on a quilt for Abigail this weekend.  It was quite wonderful to be behind the sewing machine again.  =)  

In the Kitchen ... I need to find a "prettier" way to store my recyclables.  I am very excited to have curb-side pick up in our community, though!  There aren't many drawers in my kitchen, so I came up with this creative solution:

My dad built this shelf when I was a little girl and these bins fit PERFECTLY.  As you can see, Target was one short on the wire bins.  Foohy! 


In the Bedroom ... Thank you, Ikea, for having the duvet on sale!  It looks so nice with my Bow Tie quilt and Buxton Blue walls.  =)  Can you see in the shadows of the closet that there are still boxes to be unpacked ... hee hee, I think those are Mr. K's. 
 

Happy Monday to you all!

Love,

Erin