Giddy over Gingham

I'm giddy over gingham.

Especially the gingham pattern in my little Gingham Blanket.

I started following the pattern for the border and added two rounds of double crochet in the rudy red and liked it but decided to "do my own thing" and added more colors (watermelon and white) and different stitches for the next five rounds.

It's a little blankie just right for a baby.

I didn't write down the pattern for the border - but it's just repeating a double crochet, one chain in each space around with  three double crochets at the corner space.  

Really I just "winged it" at the corners adding with I needed so it wouldn't curl up.

The last round is single crochet, chain two in each space all the way around.

I'm pleased with the results.  

What do you think?

Have I inspired you to try a gingham pattern?

  The little blankie measures 30 and 1/2 inches by 26 inches including the border.

It's right at home piled here with my other afghans - Rainbow Scrap Afghan and Waikiki Wild Flower Blanket.

It's a good day to stay inside and crochet.  

It's a damp, overcast lousy day and yesterday was foggy all day long.

So, do I do a little project now?

Or jump in with a larger one?

I'm trying to use up yarn in my stash.

I'm thinking of doing a white throw with tiny touches of black in it.  

Believe it or not my inspiration for the white and black throw was a bathroom tile floor Sarah Richardson designed for one of her shows. 

Not sure what I'm going to do next...too many cute patterns and not enough time.

Hope you are having a lovely day!

(hint:  go to labels below then clink on "Gingham Blanket" to see all posts related to this project.) 

Ft. Wilderness At Last!

We arrived at Ft. Wilderness (Walt Disney World, FL) just before noon today. We're settled at our campsite waiting for our golf cart to be delivered. Electricity and cable TV is all hooked up. They don't have WIFi at the sites so I'm using my iPhone's 3G network to post.

I finished my Waikiki Wildflower throw today. Hubby said "You dragged that all the way down here and it's finished!" But it wouldn't have been finished if I hadn't...and I knew I would forget the stitches and how to get in the groove again.

We hope to eat supper at Trail's End restaurant this evening. It's kind of our tradition. I may take a break from blogging to have fun and just relax for a few days.

Jewel Tones

I loved this photo of Christmas lights I found on Pinterest.  

Look at the beautiful jewel tones.

Now what do these colors remind me of...?

Oh, yes...it reminds me of my Waikiki Wild Flower blanket.

I love the colors in these Caron Simply Soft yarns.

Red, blues, pinks, orange, green and purple shades.

Like a lovely garden of wild flowers.

Some patterns aren't fun to crochet...but I have to say this one is a joy to work up.

I'm on row ten of twelve.  

I would like it to be a small throw so I'll have to see what size it is when the 12th row is done to determine if I want to add any more rows.

Well, I better get back to crocheting.  

Have a lovely day!  

Half Empty or Half Full?

What's your view of life?

Do you look at a partial glass of wine as half empty or half full?

I see a half full glass...

Any half way point is a milestone and should be celebrated.

Crocheting, like traveling, is about the journey, not just the destination. 

 Hubby always asks me where I would like to go for our next trip and I always say "Anywhere... I don't care as long as I am with you!"

. 

I view crocheting the same way.

Each little stitch, each color selection is to be enjoyed.

 Sometimes I'm amazed that my hands can fashion these works of art at all.

I'm so glad you are coming along with me on this journey!

Laugh of the day:

Yippee...One Third Done!

The first four rows of my Waikiki Wild Flower Blanket are done!

There were lots of yarn ends to sew in - four per flower!

I'm so happy that chore is finished on this the first section.

How do you like my flower garden so far?

Teddies Love Wild Flowers

I'm on my third row of motifs for my Waikiki Wild Flower Blanket.

Sam says "Hi" !

Sam loves sitting among the colorful wild flowers.

What a sweet face!

I love the pink rose headband on Annabel's head.

Annabel and Sam are the best of friends teddies.

(Source: Pinterest)

Laugh of the day!

Reminds me of getting dental x-rays.  

At least that's how my mouth feels.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Busy Day Cleaning & Crocheting

I've worked up eleven Waikiki Wild Flowers motifs and joined them together. 

 I added two more shades of color to the mix one a deep purple and the other a light pink.

I think it is quite pretty.

Flowers are easy to crochet (easy on hands too) and I wish I could do as good a job at joining as I go as Susan did on hers.  

I'm working on it.

I almost had a crochet "meltdown".  

I just happened to look a one of Susan's photos (below) of her blanket and thought to myself it looked like my "bottom" does.  

Quickly the thought ran through my mind "Did I reverse the stitches somehow?" 

One of Susan's photos.

Now look at my "bottom".

My photo of what (I hope) is the "bottom"!

I had to find out if I goofed or not. 

So I went to Susan's Ravelry site to look at all of her photos again.

I think I'm ok. 

 Susan shows photos of both her top and bottom and I'm pretty sure my top is the "top" and my bottom is the "bottom".

Now that I'm done panicking... here's what I did this afternoon.

I scrubbed down the porch furniture with Spic n' Span. 

 I've used different cleaning products over the years to clean this furniture but nothing I've tried before worked as easily as Spic n' Span. 

 I had to just lightly scrub with a brush and rinse off with the hose but it was easy and cleaned up the furniture beautifully.

Tomorrow I'll do the porch railings. 

 The furniture, once dry, will go into the shed over winter now that it's clean.

Because I have senior moments now ~ like not remembering what day of the week it is ~ I write it down on our dry eraser board every evening for the next day. 

 Hubby surprised me by adding "J + S" to my pumpkin. 

 What a sweetie! 

 Love ya Honey!

PS - Honey volunteered to go get take out for supper tonight because I worked hard this afternoon!!!

Yippee!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

First Waikiki Wild Flower Motif

I was anxious to try one of the Waikiki Wild Flowers. 

 First motif completed last night!

This is my sample try.

No problems.

Easy to do.

I love the pattern - good photos and instructions. 

 You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry (here).

Colors are selected...Caron Simply Soft in Blueberry [oops a nice reader caught this color is Blackberry not Blueberry], Watermelon, Sage, Red, Orange (no label) [but again that nice reader advised that the orange is persimmon], Light Country Blue and Blue Mint.  PS - I added a dark purple and light pink yarn (don't have the labels with me with the names). 

 And a yellow yarn (not shown) for center of flowers.

I'm using a J hook.

Each flower is joined as you go.

You can't tell here but there is a nice definition to the flower.

And the back is lovely too.

The pattern calls for approximately 20 flowers per color. 

I may vary the color shades here and there. 

 You know I have to put my personal stamp on it.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey bloggers using Blogger!

Don't forget to back up your blog and template frequently!

Here's wonderful instructions (on the up-to-date new Blogger interface) on how to do it (here).  

It's easy to do so set up a schedule to update every month.

You don't want to lose all your postings.   

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone