I splurged on some FUN

I have to admit cabling intimidates me, but my goal is to learn! Buying fun new needles by Lantern Moon is a good way to start!

I have been wanting a new needle case because mine was just a tiny crochet hook zip case that was unbelievably stuffed full of all my "stuff"so this impressive piece is not only gorgeous, but completely functional as well.

I am also growing into my new hair do. I keep reminding myself that I. Am. Not. My. Hair. I am still the same beautiful girl I was before. God has shown me that I can be a beautiful person no matter what my outer appearance may be because it truly is what is inside that counts!

Finishing a Doily, Blocking.

When it comes to blocking a doily there are probably as many different ways to do it as there are people crocheting. So here is how I do it. You need something to pin your doily to- I used a piece of foam poster board because it is super inexpensive and easy to replace. I took some clear scotch packing tape and covered the whole front side of it for a bit of waterproofing. 

Then you need starch- I used a spray can.

You also need safety pins

I draw a circle on my board so that I have a general idea of where to pin. Next you want to wash your doily. When it is still wet you start pinning the doily down. I have to angle my pins because I pull so hard.

 Once you are satisfied that your doily is pulled tight and pinned evenly just spray it down with the starch && let her dry.

 Of course if you are anything like me you will be in your bedroom with a blow dryer drying it as fast as you can. After several hours of straight crocheting, I am ready to admire my masterpiece! :)

Once it has completely dried you are free to unpin your doily and fall in love with it all over again!

My Favorite Tool

I think every person who has a hobby has a favorite tool. Mine is kind of lame to many people and I didn't grow to love it until I started doing projects with more counting involved. My stitch counter is simple, inexpensive, and makes my crafting a breeze. With two small children running rampant through my home, there is no way I could keep track of where I am in a pattern without my stitch counter. 

What is your favorite tool?

Bridesmaid Dress

So here is the dress. It looks great laying here on the bed, but feels a little too poofy for my style. I'm debating taking it all apart and taking some off the skirt. But I don't know if I have the motivation to basically spend another day taking this apart and putting it back together...

If I decide to wear this in the wedding I will definitely take it apart and remove some of the fabric from the skirt part. My friend has a grey dress that I haven't seen yet and she said I can wear it if I want to. Maybe I will do that and save this for a date night?

Building Dreams

June 23, 2012

July 7, 2012

July 7, 2012

Our house is coming along nicely. I am so blessed to have the brother-in-law's that I do. How amazing is it that they can do so much in just a few weekends? Five weekends and this is where it is? 

What hole in my shorts?

My infatuation with doily's may never end. I found another use for them- patching holes in shorts. I found a pattern that was intended to be used as a coaster. You can find it here. The only edit to this pattern I did was on round 6. I did as follows:

rnd 6: slip stitch to ch2 space, ch1, sc in space, ch8, sc in next ch2 space,ch5, *sc in next space, *(repeat around) slip stitch into first sc.stitch to top of ch3.

I crocheted this doily and then washed and dried both the doily and the shorts.

Next I just used a good thick thread to hand sew around the edge of the doily. (When I get into town again I'll get an iron on patch to put on the inside to help stabilize the denim behind the doily.) 

I'm debating adding a little bit of lace to the bottom of these shorts as they feel too short, but I'm worried my big ol' momma thighs may make the lace bunch up and just make things worse.

Doesn't this add such a nice feminine touch? I really like how it turned out!

What else can you use a doily for?

skirt easy, dress hard

I am having a bit of trouble with my newest project. In 15 days I am in my best friends wedding. I was determined to find a dress in Naperville this past weekend, but I had absolutely no luck! So I decided to do what I do and make one! My friend's only request for our bridesmaid's dresses was grey, yellow, lace, vintage. Other than that she didn't care. So three of the bridesmaids went with yellow and two went with grey. I knew finding a lacy, grey dress would be a task in summer, but I took the challenge nonetheless. 

So I found this plain cotton fabric with this grey lace. I plan to add something small in yellow. I thought about a belt around the waist using a silk ribbon, but I don't know how that will look so I'll have to just wait and see what "feels" right.

This is the McCall's pattern M6508. In this pattern there are 19 pieces and multiple options for the dress. I chose the gathered top and the short gathered skirt. That is the top right dress without the strap. 

Now I am kicking myself for deciding to do this. I only spent about $30 on fabric so it will be an extremely price-savy dress if I can pull it off, but making a dress is hard work. I've made a dozen skirts, but never a dress. Pray for me. It's been a long day trying to figure this pattern out. In my opinion McCall's failed on the directions for this piece. I'm disappointed and a little exhausted from trying to make sense of it! The up side to this is it really is a gorgeous dress and the materials I chose are super easy to work with.

Let me also tell you this wedding is outside at the end of July! So super hot. Minimal clothing is a must, but I want to keep it classy. After all, I am a mother of two children and these pictures will be around for many, many years.