Bringin' Cross Stitch Back.

A couple of weeks ago, I was cleaning out my basement studio and decided to go through some old magazines and tear out any ideas or patterns that interested me. In one, I came across a free pattern from the book "Stitch Graffiti" by Heather Holland-Daly. I used to do a ton of cross stitch. In fact, my parent's still do. Yes, BOTH of my parents. My dad loves it too, though he hates back stitching, so my mom does that part on his. Anyway, I immediately knew I had to make it. It was of a compass with a star and moon on lime green linen and it reminded me of sailing. I kept thinking of this pattern over the next few days. I must say that this is a great book! Lots of cool, updated looking cross stitch patterns. So many cool ideas, in fact, that I decided to change the original pattern a bit by adding in one of the "spiral" designs from the book. I also added in a sailboat of my own design and modified the compass arrows and dots a bit. So, what I'm ending up with here is probably 75% the original designer's pattern and 25% mine. As much as I loved the original pattern, I really liked the changes making it my own.

Now, what am I going to do with a piece of cross stitched fabric? I have enough throw pillows and pictures on the wall and the sailboat doesn't need anything more. The pattern mentioned you could also use this for the cover of a journal but I remembered having seen on the website "The Purl Bee" a tutorial for making a (modified) Monk's Bag. I'm thinking this cross stitch piece would make the perfect front panel for the bag. I love tote bags and especially shoulder bags with long straps that make carrying a bag, hands free.

Check back to see the finished design incorporated in the Monk's Bag pattern. I can't wait to go and pick out the fabrics.

Sky Scarf, September, 2012

Here is my progress on the Sky Scarf at the end of September.

It's been nine months and no baby, but I've definitely felt the labor.

Three months to go and it will be done. Looking forward to winding it up and

getting on to something new. I'm hoping to use some grey yarn these last months.

This scarf is pretty blue, not what you'd expect living in West Michigan.  

The Sky at about 2:00 p.m. on September 30. The leaves are just starting to change.

This is along the Kalamazoo River just outside of Saugatuck, Michigan.

My Son's Custom Tae Kwon Do Weapons Bag

My son takes Tae Kwon Do lessons and at 14 years old is a 2nd degree black belt.

He loves majoring in "weapons" and bi-weekly has to bring them all to class.

It's a bit of juggling, so I decided to make him a bag to carry them all.

We looked online at "weapons" bags, but didn't find anything close to what he was looking for.

This bag is just over six feet long, the length of his bo staff and is fifteen inches wide,

there are three pockets the full length that are five inches wide, but vary in width themselves.

The pockets all close with velcro and the material is a heavy weight duck cloth.

The bag has a handle and a shoulder strap made from webbing.

Here are the weapons: bo staff, nunchakus, tonto (wooden knife),

 escrima sticks, and bokken (wooden sword).

Here is the bag with the pockets closed.

Here are all the weapons in their pockets. The bo staff pocket is the length of the bag, is the center pocket and opens from either end. The tanto and escrima stick pockets are at one end and on either side of the bo staff pocket. The bokken and nunchakus pockets are at the other end. The pockets for the other weapons such as the tanto, were shortened since the tanto is only about 12 inches long.

The total cost for the bag was less than $20.

The Sweater...

I didn't originally think that this sweater really deserved a blog posting of it's own, but I'm just so darned happy to be done with it, that's exactly what I decided to do.

My dear husband wanted just a plain crewneck sweater in an off white.  My mom had an old Columbia-Minerva Hand Knits for Men book probably from the late 50s or early 60s. Great place to find a crewneck sweater pattern. The one I picked has set in sleeves. There were also options for saddle sleeves and raglan sleeves. The yarn I used is Plymouth Encore worsted weight. It is 75% acrylic and 25 % wool. It was knit on size 8 and size 5 needles and is miles and miles of boring stockinette stitch. I think next time I would add a cable down the front or a stripe of another color or something to add some interest. I started this sweater on September 18, 2010 and just finished the seaming this morning and the weaving in of the loose ends this noon, September 19, 2012. It still needs to be washed to even out the stitching and maybe flatten the seams a bit. I like how it turned out and hopefully it will fit.

Sky Scarf, August, 2012

Here is my Sky Scarf update for August. The scarf is now 3/4 done as is 2012. Thought I would include in this month's photo the little "Hello Kitty" notebook that I am keeping track in. I mark the dates down the page, two columns, make note of the sky and check off the rows when done. This summer, I would get a little behind on the knitting portion, just noting the sky. September has begun and I'm actually looking forward to adding a little more grey and white into the scarf in the coming months. Now is a good time to start preparing if you want to do your own sky scarf. Take a look back in the Sky Scarf posts for more information about the yarn I'm using (Cascade 220 Fingering) and the "pattern" (Leafcutter Designs). The gal over at Leafcutter Designs also has a conceptual knitting pattern involving social networking. Check it out.

"Fancy a Spot of Tea?" - FREE Dishcloth patterns

One of my favorite dishcloth designers (KrisKnits) seems to have stopped designing dishcloths and blogging. I hope this is temporary because I've always loved reading her blog and knitting her patterns. I have quite a few of her sets of patterns and would love to have seen more.

Anyway, it was mentioned in a forum on Ravelry, "What would you like to see in a new set of dishcloth designs?" One of the subjects mentioned was a "tea" set. So, here we go, my third pattern to go on Ravelry is a four pattern set of "tea" related dishcloths. These are free and the link to the pattern can be found by clicking HERE. You will find both these charts and written out directions for all four cloths.

I hope you enjoy these and your comments are welcome. As with the dishcloths from Kris, these are knit on size 3 needles with Lily Sugar & Cream yarn. I usually cast on and off with size 4 since I am a tight knitter and this makes the edges not pull in. Finished size approx. 5 1/2 to 6 inches square. I'm sorry I don't have photos posted yet of the finished cloths. But thanks to the work of two awesome test knitters, I can verify that these patterns are both mistake free.

Bookmark Scraps

Today was kind of a slow day at work and since I'm the church librarian in addition to the church secretary; I decided I would make some free bookmarks. I love to do something creative everyday and this was the perfect thing.

I have a ton of scrapbook/cardmaking paper, so I took the box along. When you have a lot of paper, it's difficult to know where to start and what papers to choose, so I just started with the first solid color paper I found and then the first patterned paper that went with it.

Some papers were already the perfect size for bookmarks, but some needed to be cut down. Most were around 6 inches long and between 1 1/2-2 inches wide. I then laminated them so that they would last.

Lastly, I posted to Facebook that people were welcome to stop by the church library and check out one of the new books we have added and while they were at it, they could pick up a new bookmark too. I know these will go quick, so I'd better make more.

(By the way, my favorites are the two orange ones with the cut bottoms and the two green ones with the pink hearts. I just might need to snag one of these for myself.)

DIY - Money Cuff Tutorial

I came across a tutorial the other day about making a cuff to hold change for a child. It incorporated lots of velcro and sewing. Then I came across  tutorial about making these darling little pouches from the cuffs of men's dress shirts and thought that these two ideas would be great together. I don't profess to be the first person to come up with this idea, but I haven't seen it before.

First, you need a shirt with cuffs. Cut off the cuffs as close to the sewn on cuff as possible.

Second, button one of the cuffs, laying it flat, deciding how much of a flap you want compared to how deep a pouch you want. Lay this on top of the other cuff. (You might want to try to on at this point to be sure you like where the pouch is positioned on the cuff as it will button around your wrist.) Mark lightly or place a pin where the folds are and open it up.

Third, sew through the two cuffs across where the bottom of the pouch is and where the top flap will fold over.

Fourth. sew the side seams of the pouch. Do not sew across the flap, leave that free to button closed.

Though this wrist pouch is not big enough to hold an ID for an adult. It will hold change or bills and would be perfect for a child or times you just need to carry some money.

Sky Scarf, July, 2012

We have made it through the hottest July on record here in the United States. Here in Michigan, I think they said it was the second hottest. Either way, it was a scorcher.

I finished the Sky Scarf for the month of July. Since we take our two week vacation the last week of July and the first week of August, it through me off a little. We didn't go too far away from home so I just made note of the sky where we were and went with that. I didn't take the scarf on vacation. Only five months to go and the scarf is just over five feet long.

Sky Scarf, June, 2012

 

 Here is my Sky Scarf update for June, 2012. The scarf is 5 inches wide and 53 inches long. I cast on 46 stitches and am working a 2 x 2 rib. We haven't had any rain in the area for quite awhile now. The scarf for June reflects a lot of blue sky and occasionally a few clouds.

My New Bike!

This is my new bike! I don't think I was this excited when I got my brand new bike back in the mid-late 1990s. This beauty is a 1960s era Schwinn Racer (?). It has a license on the back from 1968 and we paid $20 for it at a garage sale. I think it's great just the way it is. I'm not going to paint it or anything. Just look at that front fender! Wow! I would like to add a basket. Right now it lives at the marina where CRUSH is and has yet to make it's first trip to the grocery store. Soon.

CRUSH Updates!

Here is CRUSH and Squirt at their new home for the summer of 2012.

Our neighbor is gone, so I was able to take some good pictures this past weekend.

This year we purchased a new main sail and this is right after we put it on a raised it. It's just a plain white sail, no logo or anything.

The red blob on the front is the new foredeck bag I made to hold either the jib or the genoa sail. It fastens with a zipper right to the front stay. We just added a bungie extension to the halyard that holds up the back of the bag off the deck, so that it's not suspended so high up.

Now I have to start sewing on the main sail cover. I purchased the instructions for the foredeck bag and the main sail cover from Sailrite. I really recommend them. In addition to selling the instructions, they also sell complete kits and have really helpful FREE instructional videos.

The other update to CRUSH this year, was the new grey paint on all the non-skid surfaces. We think she looks great and not at all her age. (She is 30 years old!)

See Squirt hiding out under the dock? After many trips to various motor doctors, my wonderful husband was able to fix it himself, so we have a full functional dinghy this year. Great for taking across Kalamazoo Lake for fun. If you look close you can even see the (rubber) snakes we keep on both boats to try to defer the swallows from crapping on them (the boats, that is, marginal success).

BTW. CRUSH is a 1972 Helms 25. Hull #44.

Here is one photo of the interior. The curtains are also new this year. Gone are the bright red print.

Sky Scarf, May, 2012

Today is the last day of May and it's grey. You can see the two balls of grey yarn stuck on the end of this needle after I did my two rows for today. It hasn't rained yet, but it might sometime within the next couple of days, so I'm not cutting the yarn yet. The sky today was an overall grey, no blue, no white, nothing but grey. I'm not depressed by this at all. The temperature is in the high 50s, I think. Very comfortable for me. Anyone who knows me, knows I like it cold and melt when the temps get above 70. I won't even say how I feel when it hits 90. I don't like to think about it. LOL.

It actually was pretty sunny this month, lots of blue yarn.

Anyway, I just ordered and received a skein of the light grey and the light blue. I was down to the two small balls of the light grey that you see in the photo and one very small ball of the light blue. I'm hoping that these two additional skeins will get me through the year. Just a reminder, I'm using Cascade 220 Fingering held double. I ordered it from here and it runs $5.00 a skein. I initially bought five skeins; two blues, two greys and a white. Personally, I could have gotten away with one blue and one grey, but I have used the darker shades a couple of times.

Tomorrow, we'll start the month of June and we'll see what the skies hold for us. Thanks for stopping by and comment if you enjoyed this post.

“Bouquet of Art” Miniatures

Here are my two entries in the “Bouquet of Art” Miniature show at Washington Square Art Gallery. They be sponsoring an exhibit for all Holland Friends of Art members during the month of June, 2012. Both of these paintings are watercolors and approximately 3 x 4" in size. The Washington Square Art Gallery is located at 453 Washington Avenue here in Holland, Michigan.

Tulips!!!

Today is the final day of Tulip Time, 2012, here in Holland, Michigan or as everyone has dubbed it this year, "Stem Fest, 2012". The weather here in Michigan has been unseasonably warm all year and the tulips started blooming in March. Honestly, they lasted a lot longer than I thought they would and they were beautiful. Unfortunately, they were almost all gone by the time our festival started.

However, it is also the day before Mother's Day and I decided to paint some blank greeting cards for the moms. There are twenty tulip cards here, two of each ten designs. I hope they like them. I had to paint like a maniac since the cards didn't come in until Wednesday afternoon.

I thought if I grouped them all together like this, it would almost look like one of the tulip lanes here in town.

Happy Tulip Time and Happy Mother's Day to all mothers traditional and otherwise!

Sky Scarf, April, 2012

Here is the Sky Scarf at the end of April. Right now it's almost three feet long. If I do my math correctly, this scarf will be nearly nine feet long by the end of the year. That will be a LONG, cozy, scarf! I have discovered that I am running short of the light grey and the light blue yarn and that I haven't used any of the dark blue and very little of the dark grey. This has been a fun project, but it does get a little tedious. So far, I've only gotten behind by a few days, but since I've been keeping track of the sky colors in a little notebook I've been able to catch up quickly. I'm probably doing my scarf little bit different than other people. I look at the sky at noon and really do the color based on the color of the sky. For instance, I don't do anything different for rain other than the grey. Some people are adding beads of charms. The fun thing about this project is that the pattern is no more than a guideline; you add in your own creative touches if you want.

Spring, 2012

This is the Japanese Maple in front of our house. A week or so ago, I found...

...this baby Japanese Maple growing in one of my decorative whiskey barrels around the side of the house. These barrels had...

 ...a few tulips growing in them. The bulbs had gotten kind of old and the soil wasn't great, so this is about the only tulip that came up. I just redid the soil in preparation for some summer perennials and put the...

...cut tulip in a pretty vase in the windowsill in my kitchen and transplanted the little tree into another planter to see if I can get it to grow. The tulip has opened a little more and I think it's really pretty.

Just outside my front door, I took this picture of what I thought was a really cool cloud formation. I love all the contrast of the dark storm cloud and the blue sky.