Baby's Room

While I didn't craft anything in this room, my husband and I did arrange everything. On the crib there are multiple blankets that were gifts from various people. 

Pardon some of the mess, it's still a work in progress. 

Things for Baby E!

Seeing my due date is now 9 days away, I figured I should work on wrapping up a few projects. I've been on Maternity Leave for a week now so I've had lots of couch time to work on things. 

Cross stitch Birth Announcement

First finish is the Birth Announcement cross stitch. I've been making these for nieces and nephews but those have been 5x7 size. This one was a 10x10. Took just a little longer. I think I started it back in October, but took a break to work on Christmas gifts. 

It's just missing some information that is not yet determined. I didn't think I'd get this done before baby came. It was from a kit and I just followed the pattern. I'm not creative enough to make up my own. 

Baby Blanket

Second big finish was Baby E's blanket. Not knowing if baby is boy or girl had me stumped on colors. I decided to use together a grey and a variegated of white, yellow/green and turquoise. Those are close to the colors we're using in baby's room and seemed fairly neutral. 

I came across the pattern through a friends blog (http://inspiremegrey.blogspot.com/2013/06/two-easy-crochet-baby-blankets.html?m=1)  that linked back to this blog post. (http://www.aestheticnest.com/2011/12/crochet-sedge-stitch-cowl-tutorial-for.html?m=1)  I did what my friend did and turned the cowl into a blanket. I used the reverse single crochet to put a border on my blanket. 

I love how the colors and texture turned out. I used Bernat Softee Baby yarn which is what I typically use in baby blankets. It's so soft. 

Next goal to finish is a baby blanket for a future nephew. I have 2 niece blankets done and waiting. One of my sisters is due 3 weeks after me and doesn't know if she's having a boy or girl which means I need to be prepared!

Long Overdue Update

I'm not very good at the blogging thing apparently.  Here's a few of the things I've finished lately.

Cross Stitched Bookmarks
I came across a kit to make a bookmark a month.  I'm trying to stretch it out a bit and get multiple months for some.  I'm working on finishing up a few more (okay, 4) for my mom, sisters, and mother/sister-in-law along with my aunt.  I've finished 6 but only through of taking pictures of these 2.

Stuffed Bear
As is tradition, new nieces and nephews get a little stuffed bear for their First Christmas.  There were 2 new nephews this year which meant 2 bears.  Unfortunately I only took pictures of one.  With one nephew it was the 4th bear in the family so he got a necktie.  The other nephew is the first in his family so he got the standard bear.  Imagine this one without the necktie.

Art Smock

When asked what my nephew Walden could use for Christmas, my sister suggested a smock when he paints or something else messy.  I found a tutorial and it sounded easy, but the measurements didn't make sense to me.  It turned out a little big, but he'll grow into it.  I used diaper covering material, bias tape and some velcro.  

Dipped Marshmallows 

I ended up taking a personal day a few weeks back for a Dr. Appointment and had some free time left so I thought I'd try making dipped marshmallows.  I used melted chocolate and vanilla to dip them in and then added a topping when they were still melty.  I used rainbow and chocolate sprinkles, chopped nuts, crushed cookie and mini chocolate chips.  I was happy with how they turned out and they seemed to go over well.  Especially with the nieces and nephews.  

 

Now I'm in the rush of finishing baby things.  My sister is due 3 weeks after me.  I have a cross stitch done for their baby (just missing the name and other info), working on a blanket for a future nephew (I have 2 niece ones in the waiting).  Also trying to finish a blanket and cross stitch for our baby along with possibly a quilt.  The next 11 weeks are going to be busy for sure!

Tada! Circle Blanket

For each of my sisters, I've made them crocheted afghans for their high school graduations.  I don't have a very good track record for finishing them on time.
#2 (because I'm #1)-Finished 1am the morning of her party.
#3-I think I finished just before she went away to school.
#4-I think it was a year and a half late
#5-I don't remember exactly, but I do remember it was several/many months after her party
#6 only 1 1/2 months late.

I started this one so many times I was getting pretty frustrated I couldn't find a pattern/idea I liked.  I did get a late start on it and finally settled on this in March.  I found the idea on this blog Three Beans in a Pod.  After doing piece/square blankets for 2 other sisters, I had sworn off doing another (I said the same thing after the first one).  But I guess I'm a glutton for punishment and decided to make another.  

Given my late start date, it came together pretty fast.  I ended up needing several more squares than I thought, so that was disappointing.  After I had a fairly large pile, I put it all out on a blanket I had I thought would be a good size and found I was only 12 squares short.  

The last time I did piece blankets, stitched everything together.  That took forever.  I decided to crochet this one together.  That's my new favorite method!  I put together the entire thing in 2 days.  My wrists were pretty sore after that, but I was at the point I just wanted to finish the crazy thing.  It was also 83º in my house and it was getting pretty darn hot.  (I'm stubborn about the A/C sometimes.)

After putting the squares together, I still had to put a border on it.  I happened across a book at the library that had 150 different crochet borders.  After paging through it, I bought my own copy online.  It has some neat ideas.  Around the Corner  Most of them you need to know what your stitch multiple you have and that was more thought than I cared at this point.  This was one that worked for any multiple.  It's a back post stitch and I really like the pop of color it gives.  

Now that this one is finished, maybe I can finish some of the other projects I have going.  I tend to have ADD when it comes to projects.  I get bored with what I'm working on and have too much yarn that is begging to be made into something.

Onto the next project!

PS: I forgot to mention.  This circle uses the magic circle method.  I hadn't used this before.  I discovered (too late, but just before it was the point of no return) that I trimmed my tails too short on the center of the circles.  Before washing, I used a yarn needle and looped a piece of yarn through each center, tied a tight knot, then washed.  After washing I wove those ends in and trimmed.  Had I not put the lifeline in, I ran a huge risk of each center falling apart in the washer.  I would have cried. Everything came out of the washer fine.  I just warned my sister not to be too rough with it.  Lesson learned!

The final square!

Finally, I finished all the squares. I laid all the squares out on a blanket I thought was an appropriate size. Found I was only 12 squares short! 

Now the task of putting them all together!

Just going in circles!

Making progress, slowly but but surely. 

Sneak Peek!

Who could these be for? What is it going to be? Only time will tell. :)