I Promised You a "Rose Garden"!

Gosh, I can't believe I finished my "Rose Garden" granny rose throw yesterday. 

 It's a beauty!

When I started crocheting again four years ago (for the third time since the 1980s), I never dreamed I could crochet a throw - let alone a throw as beautiful as this. 

 Many thanks to Astri at Apple Blossoms Dreams for sharing her vintage granny rose pattern!

Stats:

Body: 41 red granny roses and 40 green granny roses with green leaves and white background joined with red yarn (rose pattern here);

40 white roses with green leaves and red background joined with red yarn.

Border: 48 green flowers (pattern #86 here);

Edging: a million stitches of little white flowers (video here).

A total of one hundred and twenty-one granny roses in the body and 48 green flowers in the border and a zillion little white flowers in the edging!

Now you would think after making that many roses I wouldn't forget how to crochet the granny rose. Ha...I tried to make one yesterday and couldn't remember how it started.  I have this urge to make a black rose... 

 But I can still remember how to crochet the little white flower edging because that's the last stitch I worked on.

This throw was fun to make...none of the roses or flowers were difficult and the Caron Simply Soft acrylic yarn is lovey to work with...the cotton yarn (green granny roses) was a little stiffer to crochet but not that bad.

It's a heavy throw measuring about 54 inches by 55/56 inches.

For pattern info etc go to labels at bottom of this post and click on "Rose Garden Throw" to see all previous postings.

Doesn't it look pretty hanging out on our screened in porch?

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Hot, Hot and Hotter

Today is the start of really HOT weather here.

I'm hoping it doesn't hit 100 degrees here tomorrow.

My zinnias are zinging!

I love the bright rose, yellow and orange colors.

I don't know why I never planted zinnias before but I know I will be planting them again!

Our spireas and purple salvia are getting huge. 

 We may need to transplant them.

I saw this sign for sale at Cracker Barrel's gift shop and couldn't leave the store without it.

My goal is to bring blue, white and pops of red to our kitchen and family room and this sign is perfect.

Speaking of red...two sides of Rose Garden's white little flower edging is done.

I'm getting thisclose to finishing this throw.

It's 94 F. Degrees out side right now. We're staying inside in the A/C today.

KEEP COOL!

Don't turn bright orange like my zinnia!

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Roses of a Different Kind

Thanks for your advice with my little flower edging. 

 I agreed with your comments and flogged the edging last night and started over this time putting three spaces between the base of the flowers instead of two.

Now I'm 100% HAPPY!

I could even put another space in but it's lying flat enough for me now.

But flogging isn't that MUCH FUN.

Speaking of FUN and ROSES of a different kind...

Did any of you watch "The Bachelorette" last night? 

 It's the perfect show to view while crocheting. I'm so glad Emily booted that arrogant Ryan off. Him and his "Trophy Wife" comments. 

What a jerk! 

The nerve of this guy to argue with her decision not to give him a rose! 

 Who would want to be married to him!  

At this point I'm not sure who I would pick but definitely NOT Ryan. 

 Emily has class - that was a nice touch to give the remaining two guys both a rose.

There's a lot of great guys left. 

 Sean is so good looking and Artie says and does all the right things at the right time. And I like Doug too. He seems the most manly in his actions. 

 Do any of you watch this show? 

 I don't watch the singing reality shows but I love to watch "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" shows (it's light entertainment) and I also like to watch the kids on "So You Think You Can Dance".

Back to my "roses".

I'm so in love with this throw. 

 It's my favorite so far.

Every stitch has been fun on this one. Can't say that about all my projects.

An FYI - if you're not aware of this tip - to see all posts related to my Rose Garden throw just go to "labels" at the bottom of this post and click on "Rose Garden Throw" and all previous posts related to this project will appear magically along with photos, videos and pattern information.

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Little Flower Edging

You are probably tired of hearing about my Rose Garden throw.

But it's the project I'm working on now and it's my blog so I get to go on and on about it if I wish. 

 So.There.

Have you seen this adorable little flower edging in Flickr and Pinterest? 

 I knew I wanted to do a different edging in white and when I saw this edging in Flickr I was intrigued.

The author didn't post any pattern although several asked if there was one.

So I googled "little flower edging" and was linked to a terrific video on YouTube by Crochet Geek.

After watching the video over and over and practicing on my throw I have this pattern memorized now. 

I adjusted the pattern to have two spaces between flower bases instead of one.

In the hope that it would lie flatter... 

but after working almost a foot in length the edging is still a little ruffled.

Now I can't decide...leave it as it is - a little ruffled - or frog it and put more space between the flowers. 

 It isn't that I don't like it ruffled, I really do, but I ask myself "Would it look even better if the flowers were more obvious?"

That is... spaced more apart like this?

Or keep it ruffled like this?

I think I will crochet a few flowers spaced further apart (four spaces instead of two) next to these to see how it looks.

That's my Monday!

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Little Green Flowers

Nope, I didn't care for this look...

at all...

Way too curly for me!

So I'm stitching the edges of the limelight green yarn flower petals down with the lighter green yarn...by slip stitching around each stem through to the bottom then chaining three stitches repeating all around the flower.

Now each little green flower is lying nice and flat.

I'm 1/4 of the way around the green flower border.

As I'm working on tacking down my green flower border my mind is busy thinking about how to finish the edging. 

 So far I'm leaning towards an edging in white.

A photo of my Rose Garden throw made it into Flickr's Explore...and then was "dropped" along with my other three photos that were in Explore. 

 LOL!

I guess they don't like my photos anymore. 

 I was surprised any of mine made it into their "interesting" category at all. 

 If I didn't have a gadget set to alert me I would never even know because Flickr doesn't alert you and I don't have time to look through 500 photos a day that make Explore. 

 Shout out to Flickr - why can't you send an email to members with a notice of their photos making Explore???? 

 Likewise when you "drop" them too. 

 Just asking...seems easy to do and is good customer service. 

 At least I can go to a 3rd party (thank you BigHugeLabs scout!) now to find my Explore photos - dropped or otherwise.

It's another beautiful day here in Pennsylvania...sunny, warm with no humidity. I love to sit out on our screened in porch crocheting, listening to music and drinking a good cup of coffee.

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Busy Here Doing This & That

I've had my single beverage server since Christmas and found a neat tutorial on how to clean it on Pinterest and YouTube.

So I took mine apart and put the K-Cup holder plus drip tray and drip tray plate in the dishwasher.

I didn't put the water reservoir tank in the dishwasher because my Keurig instructions states NOT to put the water reservoir lid or water reservoir tank in the dishwasher.

I used a toothbrush and microfiber cloth to clean the coffee grinds out of the K-Cup portion pack housing.

My Hubby was the smart one who thought to always fill my Keurig with the distilled water from our refrigerator. I will still de-scale it but there aren't any tell tale calcium deposits under the water tank so using distilled water really helps. Also whenever we make hot chocolate we run a cup of clear water through the cycle afterwards. 

I love this beverage maker so I want it to last.

One side of green flower border is done on my Rose Garden Granny Rose throw. 

 I may go back when finished with the green flower border and tack down the flowers so they don't curl up.

A lot of work goes into making a throw and not everyone will appreciate the time and effort a crocheter puts into their piece...I've seen many beautiful vintage works that go for a few dollars. I guess that's life - art forms come and go in popularity. 

I'm glad that crocheting seems to be "in" again!

Amen!

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Look at What I Found at Target

We were shopping at Target for a chaise lounge for our screened in porch...

 (found one we liked which was on display but not in stock and sales guy couldn't order one in or tell us when a new shipment would arrive????  What kind of customer service is that Target???) 

...when my eye caught this fabric wall bird print.

It has the same colors as this hook rug that I recently hung in our living room.

Here are two views in the daytime.  

I hung it on the opposite wall from the hook rug.

Here are two night time views.

At night it looks different and I like that.

I love this bird print!

And it only costs $15.00.

After some practice and reading the directions and staring at the diagram for Edie's #86 I finally figured out how to do this stitch.

 I practiced in white yarn but will do the border in green.

I have lots of chores to do today - cleaning, laundry and sorting though linens to declutter my stash.

Have a lovely weekend!

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How Do Your Roses Grow?

Whew...121 granny rose squares finished, joined and ends sewn in.

Not a "real" rose garden but just as much work as one!

The only "Rose Garden" I've ever had!!

Now to decide on a border and edging...Edie has so many lovely borders to choose from.

No. 86 caught my eye - the design not this color. It looks like little, tiny flowers going all around the border that would compliment my granny rose theme...I'm trying a sample but so far I haven't figured out how to do the flower.   

 I'll keep working on it...I have a bee in my bonnet and want to do this border!

I think the border would be just right in shades of green.

After starting my morning off with you, blogging and a great cup of Keurig coffee I'm off to buy real flowers for our shed's flower boxes this morning.

Have a most wonderful day my dear blogging friends!

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