Some recent simple craft projects

Here are a few simple crafts I have made of late.

For a birthday gift for an aunt, I wanted to make a flour sack towel with a bluebird design. Some time ago I came across these pretty vintage bluebird patterns here. My mother, who passed away in January, loved bluebirds, and for my aunt (her sister) I thought a bluebird dish towel would be a nice reminder.

I also made a crocheted potholder -- another of those scalloped ones that are so much fun to make. Here's the link if you missed it when I posted about these before: crocheted pot holder.

And here's another simple project I've been wanting to try -- a crocheted seed stitch dishcloth. This was quick and easy. I really, really liked this pattern. You can find it here. The pattern didn't call for an edging, but I decided to add one by simply single crocheting around all four edges.

This pic shows the dishcloth with the dishtowel. Nice idea for a gift.

Lastly, I made some super simple table toppers just by narrow-hemming some pieces of fabric. I bought these fabrics on clearance probably 5 years ago or so with the idea of making tote bags. I came upon them while sorting through my fabric stash and decided they would make nice table toppers. I use these on my dining table along with place mats.

Here is the one currently in use.
You can see the dark green placemats in place too. They are not the best green for this, but they go with this table topper better than anything else I have. Sometimes I arrange these table toppers diagonally.
And a close-up of the pretty fabric.

And here is the other one, probably more for summer than spring. This shows it partially folded, as I had already put it in the linen closet when I thought of taking a picture.

Here's a close-up of this fabric as well. It will go nicely in my dining room with its green walls and strawberry theme. I love the background of this print.

So there is my simple recent crafting. What have you done for craft projects lately? Feel free to share a link in the comments!

Back-on-track challenge update

Here's another weekly update as to how things are going with my back-on-track challenge. Again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with:

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I didn't do so well with walking -- 3 days out of 7 -- or with my exercise routine -- 2 days out of 5. I didn't do so well with eating healthy at the beginning of the week, but things got better as the week went on and I started eliminating sweets and seconds for the weekdays. I found too that I didn't care for seconds on the weekends either, and didn't eat as many sweets as usual . I got plenty of sleep. I did pretty well drinking water (and iced green tea) this week.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

Although I had a regular time of Bible reading and prayer each day, and worked on refreshing my memory of a chapter, I didn't really memorize any Scripture.

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money


Again this week I felt as if I maintained the house pretty well, in spite of tons of sand and gravel getting tracked in each day. I did spend quite a bit of time cleaning in Zone 4, the bedroom. Washed windows/window treatments, did a bit of rearranging for spring, did some dusting, etc. Washed some windows in the dining room as well.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote a couple of long overdue notes to friends again this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lesson. Spent some time on the kids' summer devotional book. Need to get much more done on that this week!

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

Posted on my blog a bit. I also did some work on embroidery and crocheting projects and finished a crocheted potholder and an embroidered dishtowel for a gift. Made a new table topper for spring and did some Easter/Spring decorating. Hemmed some dish towels and prepared one for embroidering.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! The week wasn't quite as on-track as I had hoped, but today starts a new week and I'm again optimistic about staying on track.

Chef's hats galore!

Lately I have been on a binge of making chef's hats for various children in my life. I saw this pattern and loved it. You can access the pattern here. It is available in a pdf as well. It did work up very quickly once I got everything translated from centimeters into inches and cut out.

The idea is to use three different fabrics for a cute and colorful chef's hat. I wanted to use only fabrics I had on hand for these, so had a bit of trouble finding the right fabric for the puffy top. I finally decided this dark red checked top would be okay. Sam likes trains, so a train print worked for the headband part. A black and white Mary Engelbreit check was the perfect binding, coordinating with the railroad crossing signs on the headband.

This picture shows the snaps that make it adjustable. For Sam (age 6) the second set of snaps made it a better fit.

Chef Sam baking.

Next I wanted to make one for my 9-year-old granddaughter. I had this nifty Mary Engelbreit fabric remnant covered with spunky sayings. Green checks match the armchair in the print, so they made a good headband, with the same black/white check as Sam's for a binding.

The hat in action.

Her 6-year-old sister needed a hat as well even though it wasn't her birthday. She does a lot of baking with me. For this hat I used the green check for the puffy top, a ME cherry print for the band, and the same black/white as a binding.

Her own apron was a birthday request for my youngest granddaughter (age 2).

I thought it would be fun to make a coordinating chef's hat. Hers has the green check for the puffy top, a yellow/lavender/green print for the band, and lavender check binding.

These are so much fun to make and the kids just love them!

Back-on-track challenge update

Here's another weekly update as to how things are going with my back-on-track challenge. Again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with:

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I didn't do so well with walking -- 3 days out of 7 -- or with my exercise routine -- 2 days out of 5. I did pretty well with eating healthy through the week, but not so well on Sunday. I got plenty of sleep. I did drink much more water (and iced green tea) this week, as the weather has been very warm.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

Although I had a regular time of Bible reading and prayer each day, I didn't do any memory work.

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money


Again this week I felt as if I maintained the house pretty well, in spite of tons of sand and gravel getting tracked in each day. It was a busy week with a lot of time spent out of the house, so I didn't get much extra housework or decluttering done. Bought some tomato plants, seed starter and pots to start some tomato plants.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote some long overdue notes to friends again this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lesson. Spent some time on the kids' summer devotional book. Need to get much more done on that this week.

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

Posted on my blog a bit. I also did some work on embroidery and crocheting projects and finished sewing 2 kids' chef hats and 1 apron. Started work on a crocheted potholder and an embroidered dishtowel for a gift. Lots of birthdays in our family around this time of year, so I'm busily preparing for those gift-giving occasions.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! The week wasn't as on-track as I had hoped, but today starts a new week and I'm optimistic about staying on track.

Back-on-track challenge update

Here's another weekly update as to how things are going with my back-on-track challenge. Again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with:

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I did great with walking -- 5 days out of 7 -- and also with my exercise routine; 5 days out of 5. I did pretty well with eating healthy through the week, but not not the weekend as I was doing too much baking. I got plenty of sleep. I did drink much more water (and green tea) this week, but need to keep working on that. It's getting easier as the weather gets warmer.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

Although I had a regular time of Bible reading and prayer each day, I didn't do any memory work.

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money


Again this week I felt as if I maintained the house pretty well,in spite of tons of sand and gravel getting tracked in each day. I did do some decluttering -- threw away some old things and put a couple of items in my bag to take to the thrift store. Decluttered a kitchen cabinet and threw out quite a few old mixes, legumes, etc.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote some long overdue notes to friends again this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lessons for this week and next. Spent some time on the kids' summer devotional book.

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

Posted on my blog a bit. I also did some work on embroidery and crocheting projects and worked on a sewing project. Finished up a gigantic UFO scrap afghan and another UFO, a crocheted scrubbing cloth.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! All in all, it felt like a relatively on-track week, but as always, there's plenty of room for improvement.

When life gives you scraps... make an afghan

Yes, I know that is usually said about quilts. But I think it applies to scrap yarn as well as fabric!

I finally finished this afghan, a UFO of many years' standing. I was so tired of the pattern and just wanted to be done with it. Plus, I have other projects I want to use my scrap yarn on now. This afghan was to be made in 2 pieces and then these were to be joined together and an edging added. I finished one piece some time ago and had optimistically started crocheting the second.

I finally decided that the only way I was ever going to finish this was to join the pieces together just as they were and to add the edging.

The problem was that I had never compared the finished first section to the second piece. And the second (much narrower, because it wasn't finished) piece turned out to be much longer than the first. What to do now? Obviously I couldn't cut it off. What I ended up doing was finishing around this "extension" with the same edging and then folding it back to create a pocket.

I think it might make a handy place to stash a small needlework project, a packet of tissues, whatever.

One UFO off my list... many more to go.

Early spring decorating

Here is a look at some of my early spring decorating. I say "early spring", because, no matter what the calendar says, it is not spring up here and won't be for some time yet. Not the kind of spring with daffodils, crocuses, pussy willows, baby bunnies and chicks... none of that. It's still too cold and snowy. The past week or so has been sunny and quite warm, and much of the snow has melted, but still, I'm not in the mood for traditional spring decorating. So I do early spring decorating, focusing on green for St. Patrick's Day and also on the maple sugaring season which is in full swing right now.

Right inside my front door is my ribbon board, decorated right now for St. Patrick's Day.

Here is a closer look at this Irish-themed tag, made for me last year by a good friend.

My kitchen island features a maple syrup tin, a maple cookbook and a maple themed syrup pitcher.

Here is a maple sugaring-themed shelf on my hutch.

In the center are some photographs from sugaring days gone by, arranged to look like a page from an old scrapbook. In front of that are two old maple syrup labels from the days when both my grandfather and my husband's grandfather produced maple syrup for sale. There is also an old sap spile, or spout, from those days. There are also two great sugaring pictures -- one vintage, one new -- which I've put on the same old-looking paper as the photos. On the left is another maple syrup tin, and in the little cake dome on the right is a syrup tin in the shape of a cabin, along with a wooden tree.

This shows the entire hutch decorated for early spring.

Green and white on the bottom shelf, some colorful items on the top shelf, and two teapots for one in spring colors on the very top.

And I just had to show a closer look at that sweet cake dome with the maple cabin inside.

One of my favorite decorating finds ever!

Back-on-track challenge update

Here's another weekly update as to how things are going with my back-on-track challenge. Again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with:

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I did great with walking -- walked every day, and twice on a couple of days. Didn't do so well with my exercise routine; only managed that twice. I did pretty well with eating healthy through the week, but not so well on Sunday. I got plenty of sleep. Drinking enough water still needs work, but I did drink much more water (and green tea) this week. It's getting easier as the weather gets warmer.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

This week I worked on some verses from Isaiah 53 but I still need to review them.

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money


Again this week I felt as if I maintained the house pretty well, I didn't get much decluttering done. I did do some -- threw away some old things and put a couple of items in my bag to take to the thrift store. Spent a little less on groceries than usual.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote some long overdue notes to friends again this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lessons for this week and next. Spent some time on the kids' summer devotional book.

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

Didn't post on my blog as much as I would have liked, but worked on a couple of posts. I also did some work on embroidery and crocheting projects and started a sewing project. Did get a lot of early spring decorating done. It feels good to have the snow/ice/Valentine themed things put away, even though we still have some snow and ice outdoors.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! All in all, it felt like a relatively on-track week, but as always, there's plenty of room for improvement.

Back-on-track challenge update

Here's another weekly update as to how things are going with my back-on-track challenge. Again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with:

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I did quite well with exercising. I did my simple exercise routine 4 days out of the 5 that I aim for, and went for a walk 4 days out of 7. The snowy, wet weather meant I couldn't walk every day. I did pretty well with eating healthy through the week, but not so good on Saturday (I made cookies) or Sunday. I got plenty of sleep. Drinking enough water still needs work, but I did drink much more water (and green tea) this week.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

This week I refreshed my memory with Proverbs 31:30-31 and spent quite a bit of time meditating on Philippians 4:8

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money

Didn't do so well this week; though I felt as if I maintained the house pretty well, I didn't get any decluttering done. Did try a couple of frugal recipes -- one for granola bars which I would definitely use again and one for cereal bars which weren't worth the trouble, in my opinion.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote some long overdue notes to friends again this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lessons for this week and next. Reached the conclusion that God would have me revise one of my older devotional books rather than put the time and energy (both at a premium) into writing a brand new one at this time.

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

This week I was able to post on my blog several times. I also did some work on embroidery and crocheting projects. I did a lot of work in my Christmas notebook and starting planning for my Christmas crafting. I also downloaded some patterns for future sewing projects.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! All in all, it was a fairly on-track week, but there's plenty of room for improvement.