Needlework

I've finished up the needlework that I've been working on.  When I broke out my tin of supplies to work on Super D's face, I found several pieces of needlework that I had started but not finished.  So...it was high time I completed them.

  Several years ago, I made what I call "Primitive Family Portraits".  They aren't everyone's style, but ... they do have a bit of uniqueness to them.

This one is for my sister Annie.  I just finished it.

This one is for my sister Lea.  I finished it yesterday.

I also have one for my sister Marie.  It was previously finished and in the tin.  The one for my sister Dea was given to her a couple of years ago.  Mine is the first one I made and it hangs on my bedroom wall.  I also need to frame the one I made of all my sisters and brother.  That will also go in my room.

Some of these will be given as Christmas presents after I frame them.  Speaking of frames, I had Big Daddy take me to the dollar store today so I could buy frames (and a lot of other stuff too...geez...I cannot be turned loose in that store...as I just love it!)  Tomorrow, in between cooking, I will have Big C help me frame these up and get them wrapped.  Saturday is our annual Wine Family Christmas and one set of family members live a long way away, so their gifts have to be handed out then as I won't see them again until after Christmas.  This also means that I need to make a couple of more hackey sacks asap.  Good thing they are easy to make.

Finished...

I just finished up the needlework on this.  Now I need to iron it and frame it.  That will be one more gift ready.  :)

I'm on a roll today.  And I even made TWO dinners tonight.  LOL  I'm feeding some picky eaters.

oops...

I just realized that I forgot to post my finished photos of the Ruffle Rose Pillow that I completed this morning.

 Here it is...laid out on the floor.

And here it is on my lap.

I used 1 1/2 large skeins of Red Heart super saver yarn in Soft Navy.  So...that's about 21 oz. or so.  It took about 3/4 of a large bag of fiberfill to stuff it.

If you look back a few posts, you'll find the link to the free pattern.

This is a completed Christmas gift.

Change of pace...

Continuing with the "working on Christmas projects" theme....I'm now working on a quick needlework project.  (It helps that I have my tin of needlework projects and supplies out.) This will be for one of my nieces.

Super D - Stash Buster Project

Well....Super D is finished!  :)  I'm happy, happy, happy.  lol  A little Duck Dynasty quote for ya there.

 She's waving to the masses.

Ready to be boxed and wrapped.

I've wrote up the pattern for Super D as I made her, so as soon as I can, I will share the pattern on here.

Super D is made entirely out of yarn from my stash, so that means she's a stash buster project!  High Five to me!

Working on...

Today, I'm working on a few Christmas presents.  I finished the pillow earlier and now I'm adding the finishing touches to "Super D".

 She's looked like this for several days now.  She has sat patiently on the end table next to my recliner...waiting and waiting for some attention.  After consulting with my WitchDoctor Nurse ... Miss Pattycake, a plan was hatched for adding Super D a face.

 Nurse Pattycake insisted that Super D needed "1 or 3 eyes...and fangs with her smile".  So that's what she got.  I had to break out my needleworking skills for this.  I used embroidery floss for the face, in case you are wondering.

I tried (a tad unsuccessfully, I might add) to outline the emblem on Super D's chest.  It looks "ok".  But not the fabulous that I was aiming for.

Now...I'm making Super D's cape.  After all, how can you be a Super D without a cape???

Meet The Wildcats

Every year, before the official start of the high school basketball season, the school holds an event called "Meet The Wildcats".  It's where the girls and the boys teams are introduced and then they hold a small exhibition game for each team.  There are even a few games using audience participation.  I was chose for one of those this year.  No surprise there.  I get chosen a LOT.  lol  This year, I don't have any basketball players (since Big C graduated last year) but I do have a lovely little cheerleader....Small T.

 Here she is.

 She's 2nd from the right in this photo.

 All the way to the right in this one.

And all the way to the right, once again.

So...this year, I will be sharing lots and lots of cheerleading photos instead of my usual mix of basketball and cheerleading.  Brace yourself.  lol

Joining...

I finished the front of the pillow yesterday....and the back of it tonight.  (woo hoo!)

 {I just love the ruffly front!}

And now I've started joining the sides together so it can be stuffed.  My only problem is that I am tired and need to be heading to bed soon...so...I will have to finish this tomorrow.

Progress...

I'm slowly making progress.  I finished up the base for the top of the pillow and now I've started on the ruffle.  There are two rows to the ruffle and this part of the pillow is a rather lengthy process, but it (honestly) really goes fairly fast once you get started on it.  It's Monday morning and I'm just whining about it.  Gotta have something to whine about on a Monday.  lol

Ruffle Rose Pillow

I've started another Christmas present.  It's called the Ruffle Rose Pillow.  It's a free pattern on the Red Heart website and you can find it by clicking here.  I'm using Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Soft Navy.  I've made one of these before and they are really lovely pillows....nice and big, soft and fluffy.

Finished...

I finally finished the Grey Heather knitted wrist warmers.  I'm SO EXCITED!  lol  That's one more finished Christmas present.  :)

Hair...

I started giving Super D some hair...

 and now she looks like ....

this.  I like the look from the back.  Now....what do I do?  I am still unsure at this point.  She needs a face really bad.  And something else....like a cape.  Maybe a skirt too?  I need to make her monster-like.  No if, ands or buts.  She's a monster, right???

Hackey Sack - Free Pattern - Stash Buster Project

I made some Hackey Sacks for a few young guys in my family for Christmas.  I used some of the Peaches & Creme 4 ply cotton (worsted weight) out of my stash for these, so that makes them Stash Buster Projects!!!!!!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!!!!  It's a very simple pattern and I'm sharing it at the bottom of this post.

 I had Medium J (my resident hackey sack guy) take one outside and mess around with it so I would know if it was the right size and weight.  He said it's "good".

 They fit right in the palm of your hand.  Not too big, not too small.

These are the ones I've made so far.  I'm pretty much known in the family for making these and I get requests all the time.  So...after a few years of not making any, the guys are going to be pleasantly surprised, I hope.

Hackey Sack - free pattern

WW crochet cotton

size G crochet hook

filler - I used a bag of great northern dried beans from my pantry

yarn needle.

1- ch 2.  work 6 sc in the 2nd ch from hook.  join with a sl st to 1st sc. (6 sc)

2-  ch 1.  work 2 sc in each st around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (12 sc)

3-  ch 1.  work 2 sc in the first st, sc in the next st, *2 sc in next st, sc in next st; repeat from * around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (18 sc)

4-  ch 1.  work 2 sc in the first st, sc in each of the next 2 sts, *2 sc in next st, sc in each of the next 2 sts; repeat from * around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (24 sc)

5 thru 7- ch 1.  sc in each st around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (24 sc)

8- ch 1.  *sc2tog, sc in each of the next 2 sts; repeat from * around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (18 sc)

(I filled the hackey sack at this point.  don't fill it completely full though.  leave some gap for the beans to move around.  you can always add a few more beans before closing it completely off if you don't have enough in it.)

9- ch 1.  *sc2tog, sc in next st; repeat from * around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (12 sc)

10- ch 1, *sc2tog; repeat from * around.  join with a sl st to 1st sc.  (6 sc)

fasten off, leaving about 6 inches of cotton to work with.  thread the end of the cotton onto a yarn needle.  weave the cotton through the last round of stitches and pull to close the "hole".  weave in the cotton to secure and fasten off.  that's it.  you've now finished the hackey sack.  :)

Stuck...

The making of Super D...

and now I'm stuck.

I'm thinking Green and Brown Hair....a cape....and then what???

D-Ray has brown hair with green or blue highlights but after that...I don't know where to go.  *sigh*  I'm sure it will come to me.  I just have to wait for my "muse" to strike.

Projects...

Here's a peek at what I've been working on this week.

 I broke out my stash of cotton...

and made some Hackey Sacks.  (shhh....Christmas gifts)

I made up a simple little pattern for these which I will share soon.  Promise.

 I have been slowly working on the 2nd wrist warmer....

 and this is where it currently stands.

 I witnessed Small T harassing  having fun with Little Ty today.

 She was "kicking his butt" supposedly.

 Looks like it, right?

 Which led to an episode of say "I love you, Tianna" or I won't let you up.  This took awhile.  Trust me.

 I broke out this little bag of stash yarn balls.

 And started a monster/witch doctor for my niece, D-Ray.  (shhh...another Christmas gift)

 This is what the body looks like so far.

And I've started making arms and legs now.  This is one of the arms.

I'm writing up the pattern for this as I go, so...hopefully I will have something else to share with you all before too much longer.

All of this stuff has been hard to accomplish this week.  I've got a shoulder that is "locked up" or something.  I can't stand to move my shoulder and arm and turning my neck to the left is almost impossible.  I've been using muscle rub or aspercreme, heat pads, ibuprofen, hot showers....everything possible to help it out, but so far nothing is working.  Ugh!  I hope it clears up ASAP.

The Weekend

Well, it's been a good weekend here.

 I finished one of the wrist warmers I was knitting.

 I made a "quick" birthday cake this morning for an impromptu party.

 Big C came home for the weekend to trade vehicles with Medium J for awhile (Big C's truck is killing him on gas at college) and while he was here we had a quick birthday party for him since his birthday is Wednesday and he won't be here.  I am happy to report that Big C blew out ALL of his candles in one big "blow".  lol  I hope he gets his wish!

Before Big C left to head back to college, I took a photo of his sweatshirt.  Since he's a frat guy now, I wanted to see what the greek letters were so I knew "for sure".  You see, after I took this photo, I sent it to the lady that does all the t-shirts, etc. around here and ordered some t-shirts and a sweatshirt for Big C as a surprise.

As for the rest of the weekend, we did a lot of stuff....such as traveling to four different towns to find Big C a gray dress shirt that he needed asap, drove an hour to fix my sister's van, did a mountain of laundry today, spent a fun-filled evening last night watching some movies from "back in the day" - Dirty Dancing, Grease, and Grease 2, did some final work on Medium J's car before letting it leave with Big C and I don't know what else.  It's just been plain busy, just like every other day of the week.  Anyway, I hope everyone has a good evening tonight and a great week!  I've got dinner in the oven and after that, I'm going to crochet a hackey sac or two for Christmas gifts.  :)

This and That

As always, things are hectic around here.  I've been working at the farm again (and I've been sick) so my yarn time has taken a huge hit (yet again).

 I've been working on this set of Grey Heather Wrist Warmers for a little bit now.  I need to spend today with them.  They are begging for my attention.  lol

 Last night, I finished the rest of my sister's Christmas gift from me.  This hat and scarf will go with the chocolate brown wrist warmers I knitted recently.  

I used this pattern for the scarf.  It's called "The Free Crochet Scarf Pattern".  :)  Since I didn't have any chunky yarn, I held 2 strands of my yarn together.  I was using Caron's Simply Soft yarn in Chocolate and a size N crochet hook.

For the hat, I just made up my own pattern and added a pom pom to the top.  My sister is always "freezing to death" so I held 2 strands of the chocolate Simply Soft yarn together while making this.  I used a size K crochet hook.   Here's what I did.

Basic Pom Pom Hat

starting with a magic circle, ch 2, work 11 hdc in ring.  join with a sl st to beg ch 2.  pull to tighten.

ch 2, hdc in same st, work 2 hdc in each st around, join with a sl st to beg ch 2.

ch 2, hdc in same st, hdc in next st, *2 hdc in next st, hdc in next st; repeat around.  join with sl st to beg ch 2.

ch 2, hdc in same st, hdc in each of next 2 sts, *2 hdc in next st, hdc in each of next 2 sts; repeat around.  join with a sl st to beg ch 2.

ch 2, hdc in same st, hdc in each of next 3 sts, *2hdc in next st, hdc in each of next 3 sts; repeat around.  join with a sl st to beg ch 2.

now....ch 2, work 1 hdc in each st around.  join with a sl st to beg ch 2.  repeat this row until the hat is as long as you want it.  (I worked this row 12 times)

finishing, last row, ch 1, rev sc in each st around.  sl st to join.  fasten off and weave in ends.

make a pom pom and attach to the top of the hat.

that's it.

 Since it's been an incredibly taxing week for me physically, I was off to the my friend's salon for a wax (brows and lip), nail fill in and polish, 

mini pedicure and polish.  Pure Heaven.  Except for the wax.  I don't care for those much.

My fingernails are a sparkly blue or orange and my toenails are my favorite purple.  :)  I justified my time at the salon (and the money) simply because I only go once a month for all this pampering.  The rest of the time I do it myself.  Plus, I wanted my nails to look "spectacular" in case of surgery.  :)

So, that's been my week in a very basic manner.  I decided to only share the "good stuff".  lol