Free Pattern Friday: Stitcher’s Companions Crochet Patterns

I chose these Stitcher's Companions crochet patterns in case someone would like to make some of them up for Christmas gifts for your crafty friends.

My yarn of choice for my Stitcher's Companions (see above) was a size 3 cotton yarn that I had left over from “Tamara’s Tale” (my CGOA design contest piece). Of course, when I ran out of yarn while making it, I over ordered and have a quite a bit of it left over. So you’ll probably see lots of little things made from this yarn. I also chose to line my pincushion and needle case with part of a felted wool sweater, and I used a 1/2" strip of fabric for my ribbon inserts.

There are lots of different ways to use these patterns. Just have fun with them. I'd love to hear about your plans for “Stitcher’s Companions”.

Houston Quilt Market Bound

My sister and I have been traveling to Houston for the last four years to the Fall International Quilt Market. The year, Jackie chose not to set up a booth and instead just go down to have fun and shop the booths and find out what’s new. When I found out that she was still going, I asked her if I could go, too. Since she’s such a nice sister, she agreed to let me tag along.

This is a picture of us at the Spring International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, Utah. We had a lot of fun on that trip, but it was a very long drive.

Anyway, we drove down to Houston on Wednesday, and today, we’ll be on a quilt shop tour all day. (I’ve heard that some of the shops have some yarn.) We are also taking a few of our friends along with us. One is the LQS owner, and the other one is a member of KS My Stitch, and she has recently started quilting. It’s going to be so much fun, and I can hardly wait. I’ve already picked out the clothes that I need to take, and now it’s off to pick out which projects I can take and figure out how much is Jackie actually going to let me bring along. Ha! Ha!

Fun Fashions for Girls (Megan)

Look what I found! Another option for Megan’s top. This great Fun Fashions for Girls book has tops, hats, a purse, a backpack, and a kerchief pattern that fit sizes 2 to 6. Yippee Megan is between a size 5 and 6. Guess what? I guess I just can’t get gauge right. This top turned out too small, too.

My personalized tag really looks cool in this one. I don’t know how many times I can sew this tag in…

Oh by the way, I made the hat that matched this top. It has a flower on it to match the top, and it fit perfectly. Now, it’s back to the drawing board for Megan’s top. When I finally get it right, it will be so-o-o-o cute.

35th Class Reunion

As you can probably tell by now, I like to get involved in lots of things. My class reunion planning was no exception. Several of us got together and decided to start our one-day class reunion event off with reminiscing in the morning with a potluck lunch and tour of our old high school. We decided to rent the Maize Community Building in the small community where I went to school. It was very convenient as it was right across the street from the high school, and they had just remodeled it. Little did I know when I got there though that I would have to set up all the tables and the chairs. So I set out to set them up and started wondering where all the football and basketball players were that I had cheered on at all the games for four years of high school. Oh well, I knew some of them would be there to help tear it all down, so I just kept on, but I think I will need some of this to help me through the rest of the day.

I was looking forward to the evening activity where I didn’t have to do anything but show up and talk some more and have dinner at a really nice supper club. I decided to take my laptop and download the pictures that I had taken from the daytime get together. And I did a little slideshow presentation on my laptop.

I am such a bag lady though. I had my crocheted purse (made from all my colors), my bag with all of my school pictures and yearbooks (turquoise), and the bag that I carried my laptop computer in (pink and brown). One of the guys commented that my bag colors coordinated with my clothes. Isn’t he astute? I was so glad that I could share all the pictures with my classmates and was able to be involved with the planning.

Anyway, we all had a great time reminiscing about the good old days and remembering some funny moments. But I’m not sure how we went from this:

Can you guess which one is me?

To This:

It just seems like yesterday when we all were wearing our caps and gowns at graduation. The time seems to fly by now. Every year seems more precious than the year before. How many years have you been out of high school?

Another Unknown Crafty Doily

Here’s another doily that I picked up in my Friday Find. Does anyone know the technique to accomplish this cool fabric? It looks sort of like big-holed Aida cloth, and they have somehow wound the different colors of thread around the squares similar to counted cross stitch but not quite. The outside edging almost looks crocheted or maybe buttonhole stitched very closely together by hand. Please let me know if anyone knows anything about this. I love it and am interested in finding out the technique.

Free Pattern Friday: Flower Garden Afghan Crochet Pattern

When I first saw this Flower Garden Afghan crochet pattern, I said, “Hey this looks like me.” And it also reminded me of the quilt that I inherited from my Grandma Kingery. It’s called a “Grandmothers Flower Garden Quilt”. Mine isn’t put together like the flower garden quilts that you usually see. Here’s a picture of it:

The colors I chose for my Flower Garden Afghan are these:

The fun thing about making afghans with motifs is, if you get tired and bored with it, you can always make a lap throw, baby afghan, or pillow. I was even thinking each individual motif could be a hot pad. (Hot pads wouldn’t work for mine because I made them out of acrylic yarn, and you know what that does when it gets hot…)

Have fun making the afghan. I would love to hear what yarns you’re going to use for yours.

Look What I Found

I told you that I would find some more of that Lion Brand Cotton-Ease yarn from the striped afghan, pillows, and bunny. Sure enough, as I was starting (notice I said starting) to clean my craft room, I got to the bottom of one of many piles in there and found this. I did remember something else that I used some bits and pieces of this yarn for also. Please stay tuned for more…