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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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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Spring Bouquet Blooming

You know I wasn't totally happy with how the sides on my bench cover, Spring Bouquet, were turning out. 

 It was becoming too much of a ruffle look for me.

So I thought about it for a few days and one night I grabbed it and frogged back to the yellow border. 

There...it was done!  Now I could redo it.

 I find when I'm working on a project without a pattern like this one that it is better NOT to sew in the loose yarn ends as I go because once I do that it is almost impossible to frog any of my previous work if I so wish to do so at some point. 

 This was easy to frog back.

Of course I made some changes.

I went from doing "rounds" around the sides with double crochet stitches to doing "rows" in single crochet for each of the sides. 

 Once I reach the length I need for the sides I will slip stitch the corners together.

I am pleased with the results so far as it is lying flatter then before and has a more tailored style.

What a beautiful day!

I'm sitting out on my screened-in porch as I type this listening to the birds and enjoying the sunny morning with my cup of coffee.  It can't get any better than this.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me!

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This & That

Here's my new crezdena table runner, Cherry Stripes. 

 It still needs to be blocked and I'm not sure when I'll get around to that little project.

Our dogwood trees are in full bloom looking beautiful.

I'm working on the sides of my bench cover, Spring Bouquet. 

 I could continue as is and just gather the sides to fit the bottom of the bench. 

 But I may frog back to the top and reduce my stitches on the sides for a more fitted cover.

What do you think I should do? 

 I hate to start over on the sides and I ask myself "What if reducing makes it too tight?"

The bench sides do curve out from the top so I may be on the right track as it is now. 

 I have to think about this before making changes.

                                                                   Source Pinterest


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Hooking Along on Spring Bouquet

The seat area of my bench cover, Spring Bouquet, is completed.

I figured out a way to straighten out the ripple edge without taking the "ripple" out of it. 

 On the wrong side I chained across the length of the ripple edges side to side and attached each chain strip to the other side with a slip stitch.

I did one row of double crochet across the chain. I did this on both ripple edges. 

 Then I did several rounds of single crochet around the whole top (down the sides and across the outside edge of the chained piece) until the top piece completely covered the seat area of the bench. 

 Using the same color yarn on the wrong side I attached the inside edge of my chain strips to the seat sewing them together.

Now I will work on the sides of the bench cover.

You can see here how the ripple edges are loose and I didn't lose any of the "ripple". 

 I'm pleased with the results.

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Spring Bouquet

Finally after practicing on several pieces and drawing a diagram to follow I started crocheting another bench cover using Jan Eaton's "Bobble Zigzags" ripple stitch.

I'm using Lily Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn that I have on hand in Spring flower colors and a J hook.

The top area of my bench seat is 30 inches by 21 inches. My foundation chain is 112 plus 2 stitches (pattern repeat is 16 plus 2) so I'm repeating the pattern seven times.

This is a fun stitch and not really hard - it just takes me a while to get the stitch right on ripple patterns.

The most important thing is to make sure the foundation chain is correct as that is the basis that the pattern is built upon.

I told you it would be colorful!

Well, I better get back to crocheting.

It's a beautiful Spring day here with the sun shining!

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Bobble Zigzags...sort of

I'm practicing Jan Eaton's "Bobble Zigzags" stitch over and over again...

You must visit Astri's blog and see the beautiful ripple blanket she crocheted using this stitch.

 The following photos are from her blog, Apple Blossom Dreams.

My goodness but her ripple is beautiful! 

 I loved her ripple so much I decided to use the stitch to make a cover for our bench in our master bedroom.

But first I have to practice the stitch to make sure it is starting and ending properly for the measurements of our bench. I'm practicing in two yarns and hook sizes in cream and white. Of course the cover will be full of color when I get around to picking my colors.

It probably won't look like Astri's but if it's even half as nice I will be pleased.

Once I know the length of the repeat I can figured out the chain foundation count.

Please visit Astri - she has a wonderful blog! 

 What an inspiration she has been...thank you Astri for sharing your beautiful ripple blanket with us!

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