Horseshoe Coffee Cosy

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!  

We did... except my Hubby caught a bug and was a little under the weather but he is slowly feeling better.

I had shared a pin from Pinterest for a cute coffee cosy and my niece commented that a cozy with a horseshoe motif would be cute.

So off I went hunting for a pattern.

I found a free coffee cosy pattern (here)…

Mrs. Greene's "Cup of Tea" Coffee Mug Cozy with Non-Slip Backing.

And, of course, I switched out the "cup of tea" motif for "interlocking horseshoes" for my neice, MJ, who loves riding horses and also skipped adding the non-slip backing on the cosy. 

I looked at photos of horseshoes to figure out how to shape and crochet them. 

I ended up just chaining the length I needed to fit the horseshoe motifs nicely on the cosy and added one row of single crochet.  

Then I shaped the pieces into a horseshoes, interlocking them and stitched them in place with white yarn. 

The last step I added a nice rustic looking brown button. 

My niece knew immediately what the motif was (thank goodness!) and liked her coffee cosy. 

Click (here) for my project details on Ravelry.

Now to get ready for celebrating 2015!

Merry Christmas 2014!

One of my favorite gift shops had this delightful Santa Claus rug displayed at their entrance . 

I hated to walk on it it was so beautiful. 

I didn't even know you could buy Christmas themed rugs!

I gushed about it to my Hubby who commented, "I thought you said you had too much Christmas decorations and wanted to cut back?"

I replied I must have had a moment of insanity when I said that.  

And continued, "Wouldn't it be adorable to have a Christmas theme rug in our foyer?"

I think he was shaking his head…probably thinking I'm crazy?  

But I would love to have a rug like this.  

Maybe I can find one for next Christmas?  

You know for our new home!

Merry Christmas to All!

Happy Christmas Eve!

My Santa Claus Mugs

Only five days remaining until Christmas!

My favorite time of the year.

I found these adorable vintage-looking Santa Claus Mugs at Pottery Barn.

They look cute next to my "true" vintage Santa Claus candles!

There were three designs; a Santa with open eyes, a winking Santa and a Santa with closed eyes.

My Santas are sitting on a beautiful red and white small gingham tablecloth I bought while we were in Italy.

My brother-in-law and his wife bought me the lovely lighted black deer lantern for my birthday.

The Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus Salt and Pepper set are from Avon - I think I bought this set back in the 1980s. 

And, of course, the "Ho, Ho, Ho" wall hanging is one I machine embroidered this year.   

I bought four Santas... one of each design plus a second winking Santa.

Once I had my set of four home I decided I wanted a set of six; two of each design.

But when I returned to buy two more they were all sold out.  

I'm still happy I have four!

How about you?

Do you have any Santa Claus Mugs?

Xxx

Country Christmas Doily

I fell in LOVE  with this free Christmas doily pattern, Country Christmas Doily. 

Head over heels in LOVE!

Red and White together - stunning!

First I tried using #10 cotton thread with a tiny steel needle. 

Nope, not going to work. 

It's too hard on my eyes and my hands.

Luckily I found some thinner cotton yarn in my stash that is easier for me to crochet. 

The only problem is I only bought one skein of each color and the flower took up quite a bit of the red yarn.   

So I'm not sure I have enough red yarn to finish the project.  

If I run out I'll frog and use white in place of the red to finish it off.

  

But I couldn't wait to show my work in progress photos of this beautiful doily.

Hop over to my Ravelry project page (here) for more details.

Do you think this pattern would be lovely as a small throw? 

I think it would. 

But that flower would probably be HUGE in acrylic yarn!

I also want to crochet one of these cute red and white pin wheel Christmas throws one day too.

What about you?

Do you love RED and WHITE together too?

My Santas!

   Santas are everywhere here at Teacup Lane!

This one…

I worked his beard in white pom pom yarn!

And his buddy…

For his beard I added three chains between each single crochet.

Two are better than one...

And finally this Santa…

I've had this Christmas Santa fabric panel for years!  

I started free motion quilting it last year.  

I was hoping to finish it in time for Christmas this year but I don't think it will happen. 

But it should be ready by next Christmas!

I used my recently purchased beading foot to attach a string of red beads on Santa's reins.  

I didn't have enough to do all of his reins so I will have to make trip to the sewing/ craft store to buy more beads.  

I have more Santas coming!

Remember when I machine embroidered pillowcases this year in redwork?

This is the Santa one.

These will be put out on our bed next week. 

I found a delightful free crochet pattern called Country Christmas Doily that I'm working on now. 

You are suppose to work it in 100% cotton THREAD with a small steel hook.

I tried…I really did…but I can't handle small hooks and thread.

Luckily I found some thinner cotton yarns in my stash that are a joy to crochet with and I can't wait to share this Christmas project with you! 

All this R.E.D. is making me happy!  

Mr. Claus Potholder

I'm crazy about Santas!  

You know that if you are a regular reader of my blog. 

This is the first of my three Mr. Claus Potholders.  

I always consider the first try of a pattern practice. 

The pattern for the body had you chain three at the start of each round.  

Which I did but... I don't care for it because the start of each round is more noticeable. 

For the last two I crocheted the body in rounds with no chains at the beginning.  

It looks much better.  

The tricky part is getting the thumbs and legs pointing in the correct direction.  

For example, it's confusing...when the pattern says "left" arm - which arm do they mean?  

Is it when looking at the photo it's the arm on my left?  

Or is "left" the left arm of the body when facing out?

The pattern has Santa with wide legs so I modified the next two and bought the legs closer together.

I'll show the others closer up in the next posting.

  

Through trial and error I finally got the thumbs and feet pointing correctly.

But only after frogging many tries on all three Santas!

  

I'm not using any of the Santa's as potholders so I didn't crochet any backs.  

I'm hanging them on my brick fireplace.

They make me laugh every time I look at the fireplace. 

Click (here) for Mr. Claus Potholder details and pattern link.

Click (here) for Mr. Claus Potholder II.

Click (here) for Mr. Claus Potholder III. 

My Christmas Granny Square Stockings

This is another free crochet pattern (here) by Maggie Weldon.

I liked it so much I crocheted a second one for our front door.  

Simple granny squares.

The pattern called for three rounds to make a 4 inch square.

I crocheted the first round with a large J hook.

Then I forgot I used the large hook and crocheted the next two rounds with an H hook.

So my square measured 3.5 inches instead of 4 inches.

What's a gal to do!

I added a fourth round to make my squares 5 inches because I wanted a large stocking.

I loved the two shades of red…the last round is Bernat Handicrafter Holidays "Red Sparkle"yarn.

All 16 squares joined together and ready to sew into the stocking.

I reversed the colors for the second stocking.

It's hard to see but the third round is white yarn and the fourth round is Bernat Handicrafter Holiday "White Sparkle" yarn.

Quick and easy...only takes 16 granny squares.  

I added some fancy yarn on the top.

  

I love how my Granny Square Christmas Stockings "POP" on our black Front Door!

I added some white pine needles from our back yard as embellishment.

Click (here) for more details on my Ravelry project page.

Ha!

More crochet coming!

Another Elf….joins the Gang!

You can't have too many ELVES!

Before I crocheted "Pebbles" I made another boy "Elf on s Shelf.  

This time I tried a different method on his face. 

This is what he is suppose to look like.

I used embroidered thread on white felt and cut out the felt and then attached his "eyes" to his face. 

Embroidering his face is a learning process.

One eye, eye lashes and eye brow done along with his mouth.

The face all done.  

Not sure but he may look a little scary here.  

LOL !

I brought his hairline down more on the sides.

 A comparison…

I guess it's not too bad of a face.

Attaching the head to the body is loads of fun (…NOT).  

I had to tack it down so it wouldn't wobble.

The "Elf" is resting.

First elf is to the right, followed by Miss Elf and the last elf is one the left.  

The gang is all here except for "Peebles".  

She's resting somewhere else.

I'm done with elves this Christmas.

I'll show you my Granny Square Stockings I crocheted for my front door soon.

And I'm working on another Santa too.  

I was surprised and happy to have more decorations to put up than I realized between what I had in my Christmas China Cabinet and my Christmas sewing projects.

But no trees or outdoor lights this year…sob!

Oh, and I have one photo of my new Ohio kitchen cabinets to show you soon too.

They look lovely!