Afghan #2 Complete

I finally finished another afghan for someone for Christmas.  It is called a sampler throw and has the six different stitch patterns and colors that I showed before.  I was discouraged when sewing the blocks together because they didn't always quite match up in size to the one above or below it.  The directions had said that the blocks would not be the same size.  I wondered why, because with this kind of work, you need to match up the corners of each block.  Anyway, some of the blocks pucker a little bit because I wanted to at least get the corners to match up correctly.  The pattern did not call for a border, but I liked the way it looked on T.W.'s afghan, so I decided to do it with this one too.  I also like the way it makes the edges look more completed.  Since the squares differed in pattern, that meant that the edges also differed.  I didn't like that look, and the border ties it all in a little better.  I also like the way the dark brown I used to sew the seams in the back and the border give it a richer look.

I like the colors on my couch.  Hope they work for the one I give it to.

Super Heroes In Capes

As promised, I delivered the capes first thing this morning before Joey and Lexi arrived.  My little super heroes were just getting up, but they posed for Grandma anyway.  Here they are in their capes.

Lucy only wanted to pose from the front so she could say, "Cheese." She kept trying to close the front...she doesn't quite get the cape idea, yet.

I finally got her to turn around for a back shot, but she wouldn't fly.

Dot was ready to go, and flying was the very thing for her.

Full Super Hero pose... ready to rescue.

Super Heroes

As promised, I got Dot's super hero cape completed tonight and ready to be delivered tomorrow.  She asked me to bring it to her when it was finished.  I wasn't going to just make one for her and leave my little Goose out, so I made one for Lucy, too.  I hope it won't be too small, but I didn't have enough material to make it larger.  I think it will be okay.

Dot's is blue as requested.

Lucy's is a pretty aqua.

Starring a Fox and a Lion

I couldn't get Joey and Lexi to try on the masks and tails.  They seemed a little scared to put them on.  However, I had some visitors today that were willing to try them on for me.  I was anxious to see if they were going to fit the children I had made them for.  Well, I'm pleased to say that I think they will do fine.  The lion mask will probably need to be a little tighter, as it was difficult for Dot to keep it up.  It will be easy enough to adjust the string if it needs to be tighter.  Other than that, things seemed to be just about right.  Here is a peek preview of my star fox and lion.

Foxy Lucy

The tail end of Foxy Lucy.

Dot, the roaring lion.

A tail long enough to hold.

Along with my visit from Dot and Lucy came a request for yet another "grandmamade" thing.  To everyone else, I am shirleymade, but to Dot in particular, I am grandmamade.  She thinks everything she has is made by Grandma.  Anyway, she now wants me to make her a super hero cape.  So, what will I be doing this evening?  Of course, I will be making a super hero cape...a blue one by request.

Heads and Tails

Like I said, I wouldn't wait too long before getting to these masks and tails.  Once I get something into my head, I cannot let it go until it is finished.  I started to design the masks this afternoon, and before you know it, I was cutting, assembling, sewing, and hot gluing it all.  Now, at a little before midnight, I am entering my third blog of the day with another project completed.  Hope you like these masks and tails Jessica.  Thanks for buying my service.  I am happy to be of service to such wonderful people.  I'm sure your little ones will have fun playing dress-up as a lion and a fox.

Laughing Lion.

Foxy Fox.

I don't understand why my recording time is so off.  It says the correct time when I am recording, but when it shows on the blog it is hours off.  This really was done at a few minutes before midnight, not at the time it says I recorded it.

Little Cooks That Aren't

I just made a visit to drop off the aprons.  Lucy was already not wearing any clothes, so her mother just put the apron on for a picture.  Dot decided that she did not want to wear it over her clothes, so she took her clothes off before she would put the apron on.  She thinks it looks more like a dress, and that it should not be worn over clothes.  For now, she isn't too happy with the apron, but maybe she will like it better when they actually get to do some cooking.

These models could not be any cuter if they tried.  Grandma loves you girls.

What Was I Thinking?

I guess I was a little tireder than I thought last night.  I said I needed the masks and tails done by the end of June, so I had better get hopping.  What a fool I am.  I don't just have a week...I have a week, plus a whole month.  I guess that should be plenty of time to finish this project.  Still, I will be getting on to it quite soon.  I don't like to have uncompleted projects that have been requested.

Surprise Project

Kim knows how much I like to be busy, so she called me this morning and said that she had another project for me.  The girls have been cooking with her quite a bit lately, so she wanted me to make aprons for them to wear when they are helping out in the kitchen.  She said there was no rush, but of course, I don't know what that means.  After I finished mopping my floors and ironing my husband's shirts, I got right on the job.  Just a few hours later and I have my project completed.  I didn't have a pattern, so I made one of my own, cut out all the pieces for two identical aprons, and proceeded to assemble them.  I am quite pleased with the outcome.  I am getting much braver in my older years.  I would never have tried to do this without a pattern before, but I'm getting better with age.

This is the final outcome.  Both aprons are actually hanging together here.

My next project will be animal masks and tails for a lady at church.  Last week we had a service auction at my church.  What that means is that sisters offer some kind of service up for auction.  To buy the service, the sisters had to earn points by completing a survey of things they should be doing in their life, like saying prayers, making beds, listening to Conference talks, reading scriptures, doing the dishes, etc.  The service I offered was to make any shirleymade product of the sister's choice.  The sister who bought my service has seen different things I have made, particularly for Dot and Lucy, as they are good friends with her children.  After viewing my blog and thinking it over, she has decided on having me make the masks and tails for her kids to play dress-up with.  I will need to make up my own patterns again, but I will have a picture of what she wants from an Etsy entry. She wants a lion and a fox.  She needs the project done by the end of June, so I need to get it on it right away.  I just have one week to get it done.  Better get hopping again.

Another Four Animals

I started to make a puppy for a new baby.  I wanted it completed to take when I took a meal to the family.  Joey was so interested in what I was knitting this time.  He really liked the puppy and asked me to make him a frog that he saw in the pattern book I was using.  I promised him the frog when I finished the puppy.  Little did I know that it would keep me up until 1:30 a.m. to have it finished for him the next day like I promised.  A lesson learned...be careful of what you promise. It may be more difficult than you expect.  No, the frog was not that difficult, it is just that I did not get a chance to start working on it until after 9:00 at night.  Well, I finished the frog and wanted to get another animal, a skunk, finished the next day to take to the family that evening when I took the meal.  This second animal was to go to the sister of the new baby.  As I was working on the skunk, I got another request from Joey.  This time it was for his sister Lexi.  He asked me to make her a pig.  I was careful not to say that I would have it done when she arrived in the morning.  I just told him that I would make her one.  Well, I started it last night and finished the head.  Today, I was able to finish the rest of the pig.  Now, Joey asked me to make a cat.  I told him that it was enough.  I'm not going to make any more animals for now.

Joey's Frankie the Frog

Puppy with a bone

Front view of the skunk is a little dark.

Side view of skunk shows the stripe down the back.

Lexi and her piggie and Joey with his froggy.

Lexi's piggie.  We are still waiting on a name.

I guess it will be back to working on the afghans again.  I have nearly three rows out of the five that I need to complete for the one I am working on now.  That means I have eleven of the twenty squares completed.

Final Four

The diaper covers are officially complete.  Ezra will now have a dozen plus two to cover his little bottom.  I wish it could be more, but I am all out of supplies for this kind of a project, so I am calling it quits.

 I wasn't planning on showing these, but I really like the trains, so I decided to give you a peek.

Next project: a knitted toy for a young couple from my church that just had a baby girl.  I plan to go visit them on Thursday, and I want to take something for the baby.  I need to get hopping...I only have two days to get it done.

Eight More Covers Completed

As I expected, Kim liked the pocket cover better and asked to have more of them.  I went to work last night and completed eight more covers.  I have four more that I plan to make.  That will give her a dozen pocket covers and two regular covers.  There will be two covers from each color or print.  I know that she will need them.  You can never have enough diapers, and the wash gets out of hand when they are so small like Ezra.

This is a sample of each of the colors.  I plan to make two more with trains on it that I will not show.

Covers For Ezra's Little Bottom

My daughter-in-law, Kim, loves to sew, but being the busy mother of three children three years old and younger, she is not able to get to projects such as diaper covers for baby Ezra.  She asked me if I could make some for her, and of course, I got right on it.  I've finished three, with just the Velcro left to put on the fourth one.  I made two styles for her to try out before I make any more.  I have made two that are just covers to go over a pre-folded diaper.  The other two are pocket covers in which the diaper fits into the pocket.  She will probably want more of this style if they fit okay.

The one on the right and the green one are the covers.  The monkeys in a banana boat one is the pocket cover.

Nancy's Sweater

I was just looking through past blogs and realized that I never showed the picture of Nancy wearing the sweater that I made for her.  Here it is.

Love the model.

Sample Squares

I have been working on the second afghan.  Actually, it is called a sampler throw.  It consists of twenty squares done with six different patterns and colors.  I have completed seven of the squares and have one of each of the colors and patterns.  Here is a sample of each.

Square #1 is a seed stitch and will have 2 of this color and 1 of tan.

Square #2 is a ridge stitch and will have 1 of this light brown and 2 of chocolate.

Square #3 is a diagonal rib and will have 1 of this light blue and 2 of midnight blue.

Square #4 is a blackberry stitch and will have 2 of this tan (darker than looks) and 2 of chocolate.

Square #5 is a berry stitch (looks a little different than shows) and will have 2 of this chocolate (darker than looks) and 2 of light brown.

Square #6 is a basket weave stitch and will have 2 of this midnight blue (darker than looks) and 1 of light blue.

The throw is made of five rows with four squares in each row.  The patterns repeat diagonally up the throw with the colors alternating.  This probably sounds confusing, but on paper, it is easier to follow.  I wish the colors and patterns looked better in the pictures.  It is so hard to capture the true feeling for the throw, but I think it will be quite nice when it is finished.

Afghan #1 Complete

I have finished the first of the four afghans that I am making for Christmas presents.  This first one was made from 100% wool yarn that came from T.W.'s own sheep.  I had quite a bit of bulky weight yarn of several different colors.  There wasn't enough of any one color to make anything, so I just combined what I had into a pattern and used up the wool.  It is not a very big afghan, more like a lap quilt, but it will do for T.W.  I think he will like it because it is made with his own wool.  I will not be making the others out of wool.

You can see the size by the way it fits onto a single-sized bed.

I will need to see what I have in my stash of yarn downstairs before I begin the next afghan.  It will still be made with the block style, but it will be a different pattern all together.  I am not going to make any of them look alike, although they will all be done in blocks.  Afghans are harder to make as one big one.  I have made four others as one piece, but I do not want to do these that way.  They just become too heavy and hard for me to hold.  It hurts my wrists to work across them.  Plus, you have to work across so many stitches that it seems like you will never get done.  When I work in blocks, I feel I am accomplishing something because I see something get finished along the way.