Happy Fourth of July!

I have been wanting to make a pallet flag for a long time.  My hubby got me some pallets and I got to work.

The stars were tedious work but I like how they turned out. 

A storm came the day after I got this set up and blew the pallet flag over on my flowers!  Aaackkk! 

This Week's Crafting

In addition to decluttering and organizing, here's what I've been working on this week.  I have been crocheting these baby hats.  The blue ones were a request from my daughter in law for her very pregnant cousin.  Its hard to make these in the right size without a baby head to try them on!  So I made the blue one in a newborn size and a 3 to 6 month size. 

The pink one is for the baby girl expected by my step-daughter.  I am going to crochet a white flower to go on the side of it.  Maybe I can show the final hat next week.

I have struggled so much while teaching myself how to make these hats.  I first started trying to learn about three years ago.  I made some rejects and low quality hats along the way.  Especially the first few!  But, I've finally got a feel for how to make them and I'm ready to branch out with more designs.   The internet is such a help.  Without it, I probably would never have figured it out.

I'm enjoying working on these hats while watching tv with my hubby.  I think one good thing about them is that I get a sense of accomplishment with fast gratification, since I can finish a hat in a couple of days, even though I only have a little bit of time to work on them.

Cool Weather Pass Times

Every year about this time the knitting and crocheting bug bites me. It just seems so cozy to sit inside our warm house, making cozy items from yarn. The only problem with that is that I'm not all that good at crocheting and do not know how to knit at all! Knitting is on my bucket list, however.

I have a few skeins of yarn and several crochet hooks.  I got to thinking that if only I had somebody to teach me I could get better at crocheting.  Then it occurred to me that with You Tube, I could have lots of instructors!  So, on Sunday afternoon, I watched THIS YOU TUBE VIDEO and made this little hat as a practice and learning project.  It has lots of mistakes in it, but I was so happy to actually make something with yarn!  I had to watch the video over and over and pause it a lot.  But, once I got it, it was easy.  I am planning to make another bigger hat using the soft yellow yarn in the picture.   I would also love to make little bear ears to put on it.  There are several videos with bear ear instructions.  Eli would be so adorable with a bear ear hat on his little head!  

Its newborn size and my little Eli, who is now 3 1/2 months old, surely has grown too much for a newborn hat to fit his head.  But that's ok.  I love it.  Maybe I can put it on a doll's head? 

I think its cute with the bottom edge turned up into a cuff too.

I wonder how many of my readers crochet.  How did you learn to crochet?  My crochet story involves the Granny Square which was very popular in the 70s.  A friend taught me to make a basic granny square in 1976.  I didn't know what to do with the granny square, so I just kept making it bigger and bigger until it was afghan size.  My friend advised me to always keep my first crochet project, so sure enough that great big granny square afghan is stored in my 1970s Lane hope chest.

Maybe I'll pull that first project out some time and show it here on my blog. 

I would love to hear any stories of your first crocheting or knitting projects and how you learned.

Gift Ideas - Personality Bookmarks

I got the inspiration for these bookmarks on the Prudent Homemaker Blog HERE.

This idea appealed to me because I felt like it was a very personal gift and cost very little.

I've heard that the sound of one's own name is a beautiful thing. So I thought having your name on a bookmark with lots of nice and interesting things about you would be nice.



I used different fonts on the computer I use at work. Can you believe I still use Word Perfect 6 and not Word! I still like it, even though its out of date and eventually won't work any more. Anyway, you can use fonts from any word processing program.



I already had a package of card stock from several years ago.



I bought a roll of transparent shelf liner to cover them with. I also borrowed a paper cutter from work and used a hole puncher I had for the hole.



The tassels are made from embroidering thread.

These are just a small gift I plan to include in some Christmas gifts this year. They could even be used as a gift tag.

*****Personal Notes

Mama is back in the hospital and has been there for a week. She has had a mild case of pneumonia for a while that had been treated with antibiotics in the nursing home. But, it was getting worse, so they transferred her to the hospital to get an antibiotic through an IV. She is slightly better, but not able to return to the nursing home yet.

Making the personality book marks got me to thinking: What would people put on a bookmark about me? I hope that I live my life in a way that it would be good things! I hope they wouldn't put things like: irritable, procrastinates, lazy, hateful, etc. LOL Of course, when I was brain storming for ideas to go on the ones I made, I avoided any undesirable personality traits that came to mind. But, everybody has some!

What would go on your bookmark this morning?

Just a Smidgen of Fall...

I found some cute wooden trays with rope handles on clearance at Family Christian Store for only $1.29. I forgot to take a picture of them, but they were on the clearance table from last Fall and have pumpkin pictures in the bottom. I could envision all kinds of ways to use them, so I bought 4. Here's how I am using one of them.



These inexpensive silk sunflowers are just laying in the box. I can reuse them in other flower arrangements later on.





By the way, my Hubby found my "Fall" box and I have put it in a place that I can start pulling things out of it gradually as Fall approaches.

Personal Notes:

Mama is much better! She is still in the hospital, but is now eating. She was given some medication that increases appetite and when I visited last night she had eaten a good part of the supper tray and had a Krispy Kreme doughnut in her hand that a family member had brought her. She is still having the very low blood pressure and many other problems, but definitely way better than she was a few days ago. Thanks so much for your prayers!

Crafty Things

My friend Terri at HEARTS IN SERVICE is hosting a linky today called Crafty Things. She would love for you to link to posts about any crafty things you have been up to.

I've been working on the free motion machine quilting of this quilt. It needs it to be finished by next Friday which is graduation day for the recipient! Not sure if that will happen, but I'll keep plodding along....

The back:

Some of the progress on the front:

I'm not too sure about the new blogger!  How about you?

Happy Friday!

Crafty Things

My friend Terri at HEARTS IN SERVICE is hosting a linky today called Crafty Things. She would love for you to link to posts about any crafty things you have been up to.

And you know me! I'm not one to pass up an opportunity show things I have been working on, so here goes:

I have to put the final border on the long sides of this quilt top and it will be finished and ready for pin basting. I've shared this on my quilting blog already, but this quilt is for my step-son's college graduation gift and is made from his shirts and other fabrics purchased to coordinate with them.

I hope to do that pin basting job this weekend, but work in the yard is calling me as well as other obligations, so we will see how that goes!



Someone or some group made small neck pillows for the dialysis patients and my mother love hers. Sadly, it got damaged during her recent hospital stay, so I tried to duplicate it. I laid it on a piece of newspaper and traced around it. I made this "rough draft" in a hurry last night to see how it fit her neck. If it works I'll trade this one for the damaged one and bring it home to repair.



I made another Thomas and Friends travel play mat for my Etsy Shop.




Thanks Terri!