baby blanket.

I finally finished this super sweet baby blanket I had started when I first found out my sister is having a girl. I took my time on it partially because I like to bounce between projects, and partially because I have a secret fear of finishing things--what if it doesn't turn out?! Luckily, I'm beginning to learn that the amount I learn from each screw up greatly contributes to the success of my next project.

 Anyway, back to the blanket. I used the tutorial at MADE, as well as the one she links to. I LOVE the way it turned out.

One thing I love about this design is that I'm always a little nervous to throw my freshly sewn items into the washing machine. I have fears that they will just completely deteriorate and all my hard work will be completely ruined in one 30 minutes cycle. So, imagine my pleasant surprise to find out that not only did this blanket survive the wash, it actually improved as the cut edges frayed, making them softer and more chenille-like.

I decided to spend the time to hand sew the binding onto the back of the blanket. Even though it took a lot longer for me to do it this way, I love the thought of putting hand stitches into a project. It gives you some extra time to really hold the project in your hands and infuse it with all the love you want to give to the recipient. I think this is also why I am so drawn to knitting for people, and babes in particular.

You can sort of tell in this photo that I used multiple colors of contrasting thread, mostly because I ran out of my first color and decided to make it look like that was the plan. I actually like how the "stripes" turned out though. The horse fabric is an embroidered corduroy that I found at Joann, and I think it's perfect for a little baby girl who will be born and raised on a small farm, especially since there is already a pony in the family. :)

Overall, the tutorials are great, the blanket was fun to make, and I love the way it turned out. Success! Give it a try. 

:)

pillow!

 Here is the pillow I finished for Mad's room. I am entering it in the Blogger's Pillow Party. What fun!

 I ended up making a scrappy log cabin (of sorts) for the front panel, and experimented with quilting it to a small piece of batting.

 Here's a better look at what I did. I love the way the stitch lines formed squares at the corners, it really adds to the "quilty" look I was going for. The owl is a left over piece of fabric I had hand screen printed a while back.

I added some embroidered tree detail.

 And appliquéd some leaves.

And in case you're curious, I sewed my first ever envelope back (super easy!) out of an old sheet, which means I didn't even have to hem the envelope opening since I just cut my pieces from the edge.

Success! She approves. 

:)

pillow progress.

Here's a little peek at what I've been working on for Madelynn. I was planning to enter it into the Blogger's Pillow Party contest over at Stitched In Color, but for some reason I thought I had until tomorrow to enter for this month. Luckily, there will be a March deadline to enter also, so hopefully I'll make that one. And then maybe when I finish this one up I'll finally get around to working on the crochet pillow I've had in my head for months.

:)

this moment.

inspired by SouleMama.

lemony-limeny.

Or does it look more like mustard and wasabi? Either way, I love these yarns together, even though I'm not working on a project using both of them together. I started the one in yellow a few weeks ago, on a trip to Portland. There's just no denying that small gauge, single-color projects are MUCH more portable than most larger ones, especially if the larger one is striped with about seven different colors, which means juggling seven balls of yarn around...

Back to the yellow. My mom came up with a great scarft/shawl pattern a few months ago, and I love it, so she generously supplied me with that skein of fingering weight yarn to "test knit" it. :)

The green project is my first pair of adult socks, and my first (somewhat) involved lace pattern. I'm knitting these babies up for myself for my birthday. Which isn't really anytime soon, but I'll need a few weeks if I actually plan to have them finished in time! I chose green (also out of my mother's stash. Happy Birthday, right?) so I don't get pinched. 

Both of these yarns are from Knit Picks, since that's where mom and I get most our yarn-- lots of colors + super affordable = sold!

pillow party.

I am super excited to say that I am currently working on an entry into the Blogger's Pillow Party. I thought this was the perfect excuse to try my hand at something new, without committing to a huge project. I can't wait to show you the finished product.

:)

a recipe for you.

A few days ago I searched high and low for a recipe for broccoli salad. The result: you don't need a recipe, as long as you have a good dressing! Just combine some of your (or your kids') favorite things, or you can keep it simple with just broccoli and crumbled bacon. Yum! On Valentine's day I used a head of broccoli (finely chopped), some shredded cheddar, a diced apple, and blue cheese crumbles and served it alongside heart-shaped sloppy joe's. The day before that I had bacon instead of blue cheese, which was equally as good! Like I said before, anything goes! You could also add raisins, green peas, sunflower seeds, almond slivers... be creative!

Here's the recipe I came up with for some super yummy dressing:

1/2c. mayonaise

1/2c. plain yogurt

2 Tbs balsamic vinegar 

3 Tbs honey

Just mix all ingredients together, dump into your bowl of salad, and enjoy! 

:)

Happy Valentine's Day.

You can click the picture to read a Wikipedian History of the special day, which is where I found this fantastic piece of artwork.

:)

valentines:: from me

 Here is a fun valentine idea. An embroidered card. I made this one for my special someone. The bottom wing looks crooked in the picture, but in person you can see that I used variegated thread, and where the line looks crooked, it is actually filled in with pink. I probably shouldn't have folded the thread over so that the pink and red are "mixed", but it really it does look better than the picture shows.

The bird is a Jenny Hart pattern from her book, Embroidered Effects.

:)

valentines:: from the kiddies.

The other day the kiddies and I did some sweet Valentine's Day projects. Our first was the classic painting of rocks, making them into "love bugs."

Mad couldn't decide if these should stay out by our flower bed or if they should reside in her bedroom.

 Our second project was making actual cards for Madelynn to mail to her friends. We used this idea, which we found here. (That all makes sense once you click on the links.)

 Madelynn, who takes recycling very seriously, used our card scraps to make her "love-bot" which now hangs next to her bed.

:)