May Day!

I'm so glad it is May!

"May" the weather improve for everyone.  

We still have our heat on here believe it or not. 

I have been busy.  

I finished "pink delight", the pink, gray, white and turquoise throw for my niece. 

Sorry about the burry photos. 

Very rainy here with dark days when I took most of the photos.

The only thing left is embroidering a label.  

Should I wait until Christmas to give it to her?

Yesterday I pieced together April's "Party with Patrick" project, "Hope Springs Eternal", a mini wall hanging.

  

I used a few fabric fat quarters with butterfly designs for the background and different colored chevon fabrics fat quarters for the butterfly wings. 

I quilted various flowers in pink thread because you can't have butterflies without flowers. 

Deciding on and placement of the quilted flower designs.

The next and final step is cutting out the binding and sewing it on.

It's looking pretty!

I hope to finish it this week. 

We have workmen here today replacing several window glass panes that went bad with condensation.  

One replaced is our large foyer middle window.  

So nice to have clear glass again. 

So what have you been up to this fine May Day? 

Happy Easter!

Good Morning and Happy Easter!

I woke up feeling better this morning and decided to make chocolate chip pancakes for our breakfast as a treat.  

I just caught Hubby before he made toast for himself.  

And I had a surprise too.  

Hubby bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a Keurig travel mug.  

What a sweetie pie!

I recorded a public TV PBS Great Performances special on the Dave Clark 5 and watched it yesterday.  

It was wonderful.  

Now many of you are too young to know who this band was but in the Sixies there were three fantastic Bands that came out of Britain...the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark 5.  

Boy did they have the hits…"Glad All Over", "Catch Me If You Can", "Because",  "Bits and Pieces" and "I Like It Like That" just to name a few. 

  

I actually saw them perform live in downtown Cleveland in 1965.  Unfortunately my seat was so far from the stage they looked like little matchstick people and the audience was screaming so loudly I could barely hear them singing. 

Source:  Pinerest Left to right:  Denis Payton, Dave Clark, Mike Smith, Rick Huxley and Lenny Davidson.

Their music was so fun and made you feel happy.  

Dave Clark was the drummer and the manager of the band. 

He was very good at it.  

I never realized that he wasn't the lead singer (Mike Smith was).

  

Source:  Pinerest    Mike Smith…lead singer of the Dave Clark 5

They were such sharp dressers and all were nice looking.  

Sadly three of the group have passed (Mike Smith, Denis Payton and Rick Huxley).  

At the end of the special they told how the band decided to stop touring in 1970 (but were still friends).  

Dave Clark went on to do other things one of which was a musical called "Time".  One of the singers in the musical was a man called Freddy Mercury and he was a good singer.  I thought his name was familiar but I couldn't place him.  

Turns out he was the lead singer of "Queen".  

Duh!  

One of my Hubby's (and mine) favorite songs is "Princes of the Universe" - the theme song for the Highlander TV series.  

On to crocheting...I'm working on the edging of my throw, "Pink Delight".  

Here's a peek!

Working on the edging

I'm kind of chatty this morning.  

Guess I am feeling better.  

The back is better no more muscle spasms at least.

The cold is still lingering a little. 

Source:  Pinerest

Have a lovey and blessed Easter my dear "peeps"!

Source:  Pinerest

Somebunny loves ya!

Shadow Work

We just returned from a week in Ohio visiting family.

Hubby was recovering from a cold and I came down with one the evening we arrived in Ohio.

  

I was miserable the first three days there and really felt awful on the third day, Wednesday.  

I went to bed at 5 PM and didn't get up until 9 AM the next morning.  

Thank goodness that was the turning point and I slowly started feeling better each day.  

At the class

When we returned home I felt well enough to attend an Embroidery Club session on Sunday where we sewed a small sachet pocket in "Shadow Work" embroidery. 

  

We took two pieces of plain white semi sheer fabric, a piece of batting and then sandwiched colored fabrics where the embroidered leaves, flower and butterflies were to be stitched to create a "shadow" of the underlining colored fabrics. 

Yesterday was in the 80s here and today in the 70s.

The trees and shrubs are budding out.  

The house was too hot today so we turned on our new air conditioner for the first time!  

Weird!

So early to have A/C on.

Coming together nicely…sorry this is a little blurry.

Although I haven't had a chance to get out and buy some Soft Pink yarn yet, I did start joining together the rounds of my throw, Pink Delight.  

First I tried joining the squares matching the color of each round. 

That looked nice but didn't have the punch I wanted.  

So I "frogged" the join and started over using the gray yarn.  

With the gray yarn join

That was perfect!

I need to get some more Soft Pink yarn so I can finish the sixth round.

And then on to the edging.

So true…

One can hope!

Ick...I Ran Out of Yarn!

I know it's Murphy's Law of crocheting.  

I'm thisclose to finishing the squares and triangles of the body of my throw, 

pink delight, 

and…

... I ran out of Soft Pink yarn.  

On the last Refreshing square of Soft Pink.  

Errrrr....

Arrow points to last Refreshing square where I ran out of Soft Pink Yarn!

The good news is I finished all 24 of the Half Triangle Grannies.  

Even the ends are weaved in for all.  

Next I will join all the squares and triangles and then crochet the edging.  

I think a simple edging in white will complete my vision.  

Now to ponder how I will join the squares and triangles.  

One thought is to use the gray yarn and have the join show on top. 

Another thought is to join with pink or white and not have it show from the top.  

So...I experimented and joined the first two rounds like I did with my Sparkle Throw.  

I use the color of the first round,"Watermelon," and did

a simple join of single crochet then chain three all the way around on the back side.

But…now I'm at a standstill and can't move on to Round 3 until I purchase more of the Soft Pink yarn.

Darn!

I may frog this join and go ahead of use gray for a one color join for all squares.  

Let's move on to embroidering.  

I have to show you this.  

I have a knit top that I spilled Clorox on the front.  

I like this top and wasn't ready for it to be a work top only.

  

The bleached spot.

So I thought it would be neat to try embroidering a design on it to cover up the bleached out spot. 

I picked a TruEmbroidery design that was about the size of the spot.

You know I like Teddy Bears and it seemed this design wasn't too childish.  

The result!

Hubby said it looks like the knit top came with this design!

Isn't he sweet!

Have a lovely day!

Lazy Sunday

A nice lazy day here at Teacup Lane crocheting on my throw, "pink delight". 

   

Source:  Pinerest - Susan Branch

How about you?

Source:  Pinerest - Susan Branch

Hope you are having a lovely day too!

BUNCO Party Time Over

Whew...I lived through hosting BUNCO this week!  

I managed to declutter (...why can't I keep it this way all the time?), clean, decorate and prepare the food and drinks in time.

In fact I was able to sit down and watch TV the night before BUNCO.

That's a first! 

Crock Pots ready for the appetizers!

For the first time I catered some of the food.  

I'm so glad I did.  

I ordered sirloin tips, chicken bites, a cheese tray, a cracker tray and an assortment of mini cupcakes and cheesecakes for dessert.  

The food came from a newly opened local meat and grocery store called "The House of Meat". 

They were great to work with and the food was delicious!

Cheese tray out.

Just in case I didn't have enough dessert, I baked cupcake brownies in muffin and mini tins and frosted them with whipped cream cheese frosting with green and white sprinkles added.

I knew Hubby would always eat the frosted brownies.

  

Desserts set up in the Dining Room.

That wasn't enough food so I also prepared a veggie tray and two fruit trays.   

I found two dip recipes on Pinerest that looked easy and good to eat.  

One, BLT Dip, was for the veggies and the other, Limeade Fruit Dip for the fruit.

I loved the Limeade Fruit Dip…but next time I would half the recipe (it makes a lot) and make it the day before so it has all night to set up.

I forgot to mention I made "Green Grog" again.

I love this stuff.

I use Vodka instead of Rum.

I don't add it to the mixture…I let the ladies add it to their individual drinks if they wish.

It's festive, delicious and so easy to make and so appropriate for St. Paddy's Day! 

Card tables set up in the Family Room.

The ladies seemed to like everything and I think the night was a success.

 We only played two games of Bunco.  

The ladies wanted to talk more than play the game.  

After dessert we all sat around the dinette table and talked until 11:00 pm!

It was a fun night!

I'll take down my St. Patrick decorations this weekend and put up Spring and Easter decorations. 

I'm so glad you asked (of course you did! Ha!)…my "Pink Delight" throw is coming along nicely.  

I'm working on rounds five and six in Watermelon and Soft Pink. 

These squares are the Refreshing design and are so easy crochet.  

I just need to crochet A. LOT. OF. THEM.

I had to stand on a small foot stool to take this photo.

LOL!    

I'm ready for Spring and I bet you are too!

Pretty in Pink Study

First four rounds almost done on my throw, "Pink Delight".   

I have one more "Framed Flower" to crochet because my first one is slightly smaller in size. 

Then I have six "Nine Patch Granny" squares left to weave in the ends.  

What to do with the fifth round?  

I may use the "Refreshing" square design in either Watermelon or Soft Pink or maybe a combination of both colors for the next round.

I'm not sure how many rounds I will do yet. 

It depends on the size - I want it to be a lap size throw.  

I'm not joining as I go.  

I plan on sewing the squares together at the end and then add an edging.  

I found a tutorial on a new joining method that I may try.  

I'll share that information later if I use it.  

How do you think I'm doing?

I think it's a fairly good imitation of my inspiration Quilt Square.  

I know I should be decluttering and cleaning up our family room in preparation for hosting BUNCO next week.   

But...it's more fun crocheting!

Have a lovely weekend!