Coming Up Roses

Off to Michaels this morning to see if I can find yarn similar to this light celery shade for my Christmas Granny Rose throw.

I found a shade just a tad darker than this light celery rose but still on the lighter side.

Unfortunately I can't use the yarn shown here because I only have less than a skein left and I don't even remember where I bought it.  It's a little thicker yarn too which worked well for the joining and edging on my Granny Rose pillow cover but makes the rose a bit larger than I like.     

 While at Michaels I bought three different green yarns that were similar to this shade.  Tonight I will make some samples to see which color wins the contest.

I love the light green roses with the red roses.

We ordered seat covers for our travel van driver and passenger seats. 

 My seat has Tinkerbell embroidered on it. 

 I We wanted to get Mickey Mouse for Hubby's seat but it wasn't available. 

 Haven't taken it out of the bag yet.  

We're bringing the van up tomorrow to pack for our trip this week so we'll put the new seat covers on at that time.

It's a beautiful day here with lots of sunshine and cool breezes.       

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My Granny Rose Pillow Cover

I single crocheted the two sides together and added the picot edging last night...

Both sides are granny roses - same colors - just different color placement...

Looked through my vintage button pail...

Narrowed down my vintage button selection...

Sewed on my three buttons...

Inserted my travel pillow form...

And viola...my Granny Rose pillow is finished. 

 It's the cutest.pillow.cover.EVER! 

 I'm so pleased with it. 

 This has been a joy to crochet and that's not always true for some projects.

B.U.T.

I couldn't wait...

You know I love RED and Christmas...

I had to make some samples for my Christmas Granny Rose throw.

I may alternate the red roses with light celery colored roses...in the same shade as the joining yarn in my pillow cover. 

Lap size would be nice...

Maybe 36 rose squares with edging?  

 So now you know what I'm working on as my next project.

Red, green and white yarn will be packed with us on our travel van road trip next week.  

By the time I come back I will be able to crochet these roses in my sleep I bet!!!

Have a most wonderful weekend!

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"Wanna Be" Granny Rose Cushion

I'm BACK and going on and on boring you about my little "wanna be" Granny Rose cushion. 

 This is the cutest pattern.

I found a pretty light celery colored yarn (unfortunately its label was missing so I can't tell you the yarn name or color) in my stash to join my rose squares. 

 I love the stitches Astri used to do her cushion join.   

It was fun to try a different joining stitch than my standard "join as you go" stitch.

I watched Astri's edging video and really like her picot edging stitch.  

 So I plan to duplicate her edging stitch on my cushion too.

Back and front pieces are finished.

I should be able to finish the last steps this weekend. 

 Next week we are taking another little trip in our travel van to Williamsburg, VA.  

I'm going to take my red yarn with me on the road to make lots of Granny Roses for that Christmas Granny Rose throw I keep thinking about obsessing about...

Thanks for stopping in...don't forget to visit the lovely Astri at Apple Blossom Dreams (here).  

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Loving My Granny Roses

These are F.U.N. to crochet!

I have a small travel pillow that will look adorable with a Granny Rose cover. 

 Six rose squares for each side is just about the right size.

I crocheted nine rose squares last night.

I can't stress how easy and fun these flowers are to do. 

 And I'm a slow crocheter. 

 I'm left-handed crocheting right -handed and I just can NOT raise my left forefinger up in the air the way fast crocheters do (i.e. watch Astri in her videos). 

 Boy can she crochet fast.

I'm using Simply Soft 100% acrylic yarn scraps in rose, blue and yellow shades with green leaves and the white borders.  

And a size H hook.

I better quit blogging and return to crocheting three more rose squares. 

 Then on to joining them together.  

A huge shout out {{THANK YOU!}} to Astri for sharing this lovely pattern (here) with us.

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Granny Rose Crochet A-Long

Better late than never...I'm joining Astri's (Apple Blossom Dreams) Granny Rose Crochet A-Long (C.A.L.).

Ha!!!!

My first one turned out flat as a pancake even though my petal counts were correct. LOL!

So I decided I better watch Astri's excellent video...and, of course, I discovered my mistake. 

Astri has a lovely voice!  

After that these roses were so easy to crochet.  

I like that there is a little definition to the flower but not so thick and high it would be uncomfortable resting against as a pillow cover and/or throw.

This project will be a pillow cover but my mind is whirling thinking how pretty a Granny Rose Christmas throw would be....

Hop on over to Astri's blog (here) to see her patterns, videos and beautiful Granny Rose cushion.

She also has a cute post explaining how she developed the vintage Granny Rose pattern.   

Come join the Granny Rose C.A.L. with us!

What a pretty Spring we've having at Teacup Lane...here's a close up of our Dogwood Tree flowers.

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All Done...Finished

Spring Bouquet, my second bench cover, is completed. Done, finished...in all its bright colors.

I spent the last two nights sewing in the dreaded yarn ends on the corners and single crocheted the corner sides together on the wrong side.

I cut the end of my finger a few days ago cleaning (why am I cleaning you ask...see my story below) and I couldn't crochet until it healed - it hurt to use it.   

It's all better now.

The bench will go back in our Master Bedroom.

I bobbled three rows on the sides in blue, pink/white and pink every seven stitches.

Now about that cut I got while cleaning...I've had a cleaning service, Merry Maids, since before I retired four years ago. 

 My well earned "treat" after working all those years full-time outside the home.

Well.. the new owner of my Merry Maids location sent me a letter recently advising that their costs as a business have gone up...further stating that my "house" rates, based on its size and tri-monthly cleaning, should be increased 58% per cleaning to bring its rates up to the current rates they are charging but that she realizes that that is too much to ask of me so she is "willing" to compromise and "only" increase my rate 28% per cleaning. She concluded her letter by stating I could call her to discuss the fee increase.

So I called the number on her letterhead (which is the local office number) and the woman who answered the phone said the owner wasn't at that location. She was in another state! I said that's the number she gave in her letter to call.

 (Wow...that's a neat trick...send a letter with a number to call that you can't be reached at!  That will cut down on any complaint calls.  If I tried that during my working career I would have been fired!) 

 Anyway...to continue my story rant I told her the rate increase was outrageous and I wouldn't pay it...that I'm running a business too and I must keep my household expenses down.

(They weren't offering me anything extra for the increase.)

She replied that's too bad and didn't even offer to negotiate the rate increase so I terminated their service without further discussion.

So I finished two things...my bench cover and cleaning service!

Thank goodness I can still do my own cleaning and better than the cleaning they offered. 

 I told Hubby I wanted to put the money saved toward landscaping (which I can't do anymore).  And someday I will find another cleaning service when and if I need help.

 Well, that's my story rant of the day.  Thanks for listening to me.

Source: goo.gl via Charlie on Pinterest

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Love Our Outside Living

One of these days I will look up the name of this shrub and buy another one for our yard. 

 It is so beautiful.

The tree pollen is out in full force this weekend. Not the yellow stuff ((yet)) but the white fluffy stuff. 

 It looks like it is snowing there is so much of it in the air.

It's just so lovely out today...warm but not too warm...no humidity...sunny...just perfect.

A perfect day to power wash our screened in porch and deck.

All done and only took about an hour and a half.

It's suppose to start raining later today with rain forecasted for the next several days.

I may wait to put the rest of the chairs out on the porch.

I'm resting out on the porch now. 

 Back to my coffee, snack and listening to The Beatles...

Playing with PicMonkey....

It has some nice features and they say collages will be coming soon.

Update:  OK, I looked up our original landscape receipt and the flowering shrub here is a "Popcorn Viburnum" or commonly better known as "Japanese Snowball".  Now I hope I can remember this....

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Fun at Home Goods

This morning I ran over to Home Goods. 

I hadn't been there in ages. 

 Look what I found to hang on my kitchen teacup wall!

I ❤ birds and can't resist cute bird plates when I see them.

I also picked up some new pillow covers for our family room. 

I bought two pillow sham sets in similar colors but different patterns.

 I like to use standard bed pillows with shams because they are easy to change out and are washable...not to mention comfortable.

We are going to be fixing up our family room this summer with new flooring and new furniture. 

 I'm leaning towards light colors like blues, tans, yellows and creams with pops of red.

I also purchased a tall, dark wood candle stick for our fireplace mantel. 

 I may paint it another color though to keep with my new decor theme of lighter tones for the room.

I'm going to try to hang the bird plate with 3M Command Strips.

I wasn't sure if it would work because the plate has that little ridge on the back and I hoped the strips would be thick enough to overcome the height of the ridge to attach to the wall firmly.

So far...so good!

See I found the perfect spot for it!

Now if I could just hide that ugly door bell thing.  

Do you like to shop at Home Goods too?

Have a lovely day!

Update:

As I was sitting here wondering if I should add a second command strip to my bird plate...

 I heard a loud crash...

it hadn't been up but a few minutes...

Luckily it didn't break anything else on its way down.

Hope your day is going better than mine....

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Where's the Sun?

Where did the sun go? It's so dark out today.

I took the outside photo above during dusk last night. 

 That's our Dogwood tree with all its beautiful blooms.

I'm loving the way the sides are turning out on my bench cover, Spring Bouquet.

Soooo happppy!

I added a row with bobbles along the bottom too.

Almost done...just a few more rows to add and then slip stitch the corners.

This photo was taken yesterday when the SUN was shining!

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