I smell like a princess.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there.  I hope today you were given the appreciation you deserve.  I've been showered with love and it's truly been a wonderful day.

The kids let me sleep in until 9 am, and then they gave me presents.  Presents!  I love presents.

One of those gifts was a sampler of Vera Wang's Princess perfumes: original, Night Princess, and Preppy Princess.  Delightful!  I love them all.  Plus the kids scored big because there were TWO gift-with-purchase promos going on.  Buy Vera Wang and get a tote bag, plus spend X amount of dollars on fragrance and get a purse.  Woohoo!

This is huge, and will make an excellent pool bag this summer.

The purse is a beautiful shade of teal blue.  I don't have a blue purse so I was excited to get one, but unfortunately it's too large to be used as an official purse.   However, it's just the right size for a crochet project bag!  See...I've already moved in.

A whole afghan project will fit in this thing!

My son wrote a lovely poem for me and framed it.  Here goes:

Makes good food
Our best mom ever
Told many stories
Hugs and kisses for me
Eight years with you
Roses for you

Awww....

My family also took me out for lunch to a fabulous local mexican place.  I snarfed down my enchilada combo before thinking to take a photo.  Splurged on a delicious mango margarita - very similar to the ones we enjoyed in Cancun a few years ago.

In somewhat disappointing news, one of my most favorite yarns ever is being discontinued.  Caron Spa, a lovely soft bamboo yarn, will soon be no more.  Luckily I found out about this before it becomes really scarce, and I ordered myself 6 sweaters' worth.  Yeah, I may have gone an eensy weensy bit overboard there, but I figure I can always resell what I don't end up using myself.

Joy!

 Later this evening I'm going to start a cardigan project with that light stone colored yarn in the lower left corner.  I want something light that will look good with jeans and t-shirts as well as layered over a sundress.

Next post I'll do a show n tell of the Most Versatile Pattern I've Ever Found.  Stay tuned!

Summer Sunshine

There has been no trace of summer and very little sunshine so far this April, but I call this piece Summer Sunshine anyway. The color reminds me of everything summery: white-hot sun, flowers, bumblees...

The yarn is vintage.  Picked it up for $5 from a person who was de-stashing her yarn collection.  The yarn label has a pattern on it for a Disco Bag (which I may make, just for the fun kitschy-ness of it).  Based on that label pattern and the gold color, the yarn is probably from the 60's.  It washed up just as soft as ever!

They've re-issued this yarn in a modern color palette, and I couldn't resist getting some in hot pink.  I've started on a summer dress with that stuff.  I'll have a show n tell in a couple of days, once I get the bodice together.

Decisions, Decisions

In just a few short days it will be March.  MARCH!   Wasn't it just two weeks ago we were putting the Christmas decorations back in the closet?  Feels like it.

Anyhow.

It's almost March, which means I need to shift gears away from heavy bulky winter wear and into lightweight, layerable spring stuff.  I've been stockpiling ideas for a couple of weeks now and I've paired up some stash yarns with patterns.  Here's what I'm thinking:

Vintage gold yarn would make this lightweight summer top stunning.
So cute with capri's and wedge sandals!

Picture this dress in hot pink, about 6" shorter.      

This is 100% bamboo yarn which is light and perfect for summer.
Imagine this white top, but with shorter sleeves and longer body - about tunic length.  That's what I'm going for.

I like the idea of this top, but I'm not wild about the bell sleeves.  Who can wash dishes with sleeves like that?  This might stay in the idea bin until fall, and them maybe do a sweater dress to wear with leggings and boots.  Plum-colored yarn with a hint of silver would work, and it would go wonderfully with charcoal leggings and tall black boots.

I love the shape of this, but not so much how it looks like a giant red heart at the top.
I have some beautiful apple green yarn in the stash that might be just the thing (esp. paired with  cute leather sandals)

By the time I get these done, it'll be time to haul the decorations back out again!

I'm also planning some quilted pillow shams to match our new bedding.  The fabric I want is no longer available at the quilt shop (go figure) so I need to track it down online.  I'm also felting some 100% wool sweaters, which I'll chop up and make into decorative pillows.  Our new bedroom will be beautiful!

My daughter is excited about her new room too.  On Saturday we took her old bedskirt, cut it in half, and made it into two window valances.  In about a month we should have everything assembled and the sewing projects done, and then I'll post before/after pics.

Arctic

Isn't is odd how 55 degrees in October feels very different from 55 degrees in March?

If it were March, we'd be shedding clothes right and left, and parading around in t-shirts and flip-flops, proclaiming the virtues of such a wonderful spring day!

But it's October and the sky is dreary and dull.  The leaves are almost past their colorful beauty, and I'm cold.  Oh so cold.  I swear the older I get the harder it is to keep warm.  Last week (before caving to the chill and turning on the furnace) I wore mittens and socks to bed.  Husband thinks I'm nuts.

And there's nothing like a good cold wind to make a person crochet faster.  After holding your frigid fingers under hot water so they have feeling again, that is.  Must. Make. Sweaters.

I finished up this sweater a couple of days ago, and while I wasn't sure about it at first, it's grown on me.  Originally I had planned to make this into a lighter, airier layering piece.  But the gray yarn wouldn't have it, and it demanded to become a thick and cozy sweater, sweatshirt style.

The pattern is not mine.  It's called No Sweat by Doris Chan, and it's from her Everyday Crochet book.   Her designs are fast too.  This one took about five days, working just a few hours each evening.

The yarn does that subtle stripy stuff all by itself (open bag, let out cat) making this look much more difficult than it really is.  Unfortunately, the yarn was discontinued a few years ago.  I was lucky and won 8 skeins of it on ebay.  That's the only place to find it these days and it doesn't come up very often.  If you want to start stalking the auctions, it's called Caron Simply Soft Shadows, and they made it in lots of different colors.  Just don't bid against me. :-)

Got Junk?

Oooooooohhhh lookeee lookeee lookeee!

I'm going on short little trip soon, and I needed something to put all my junk in.  Suitcases are so last year. :-)

This is the back with all it's patchworky awesomeness.

I just happened to have this perfect shade of pink in the 'ol yarn stash.  I've never made a doily before, but I just kind of made up this half-moon thing to embelish the bag with.

And I had a 16" piece of blue tulle leftover from my daugther's twirl skirt (did I ever post pics of that?) The tulle looks adorable peeking out from between two seams.

This is the inside.  The handles go all the way around so you could carry some seriously heavy crap in there without fear of ripping seams.  On each side is layered pockets, for a total of four.  Velcro closure across the whole top which folds down flat  if you don't want it sealed.

The best part of this project is I used scraps from my fabric stash.  All I had to buy was $5 worth of extra-stiff interfacing, so this is definately a budget-friendly project.

I can't wait to take this junk bag on it's maiden voyage!  I might make another one to hold "crap" or "stuff!"  This delightful piece of functionality was designed by Jackie Clark. 

In other crafting news..

I have a big basket of joy on my lap!  Dontcha just love the mish-mash of color and how they play together so nicely?  Last night I started working these into a cushion, courtesy of Lucy at Attic24.  The Blooming Flower Cushion is based on an old pattern from the 1940's.  Originally designed as a potholder, Lucy transformed it into a circular pillow.  She did an amazing job, and I am so excited enjoy a flower cushion of my very own in the next week or two.  I only have four rounds of the flower done so far.  So more on that later, ok?

Till then, bask in the color joy with me.