Vacation Crafting

We just got back from vacation last week.  I only turned on my computer once during the trip, and that was to make more room on my camera.  I'm going to be making two blog posts, and both will be kind of long so that I can show you everything.  This one will be all crafty goodness, and the other one will be photos from my trip.  I am loving my photos these days, and it feels good that my dad the photographer thinks that they are great.  Now on with the crafty goodness.

I finally finished this Buddha 2 weeks ago before we left on your trip.  He is 15 inches tall sitting and 24 inches tall standing.  He took me a few weeks to make, because I had a lot going at the time.  You can find the pattern here: http://craftingenue.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/littleuns-lotus-buddha.pdf

He's a birthday present for a friend of ours (my husband and myself).  Our friend loved him.  He said that Buddha is in full lotus on his shelf.

I also finished crocheting 3 more Ocean Grove washcloths 2 weeks ago.

I made my 4 year old son this rainbow bunny in time for him to sleep with him on our first night away from home.  He had also brought the other two bunnies that I made him to sleep with.  He picked out the yarn and said that he wanted a rainbow bunny.  The eyes are made from eco-fi felt.  I left off the mouth because no one thought that he needed one.

Here are all 3 of his bunnies in the bed that he slept in at his grandparents' house.  He picked out the colors for all 3 of them.  Blue bunny, Rainbow bunny, and Cookie.  

I started crocheting the orange amigurumi monster from Lily's Sugar'n Cream's Bright Ideas book last Friday.  It was hard to work on it during our trip, because I had to keep count of the rows.  Thats hard to do when people are talking to you, lol.  Its going to be a Christmas present for my 4 year old.  I want to make him all four monsters from the book.  It is one of those mini paper back books that you see next to the yarn.

While at my mom's house I saw this really cool looking scrubby in her sink that looked like brain coral.  She just made up the pattern.  Mine is tighter than hers, but then she didn't really give me much in the way of a pattern.  She just said to double every stitch.  Her center was much more open than mine.  I used the sparkly red Christmas cotton yarn and an I hook.  I single crochet 8 times into the center loop, then I doubled every stitch until I achieved the size that I wanted.  This could be used in the kitchen or in the shower.  I finished crocheting it yesterday as we were driving through New York.  I want to make another one using the white Christmas cotton yarn, but using either a hdc or dc instead of sc.

With the left over rainbow bunny yarn, I started making a large granny square blanket for my 4 year old. He fell in love with the one that I made for my mother-in-law 10 years ago.  He asked for a rainbow one.  Right now everything has to be either rainbow or blue with him, so I'm going to use both of those in this blanket.  This is how far I got last Sunday before I ran out of yarn.  I bought more yarn today, and have started using aqua yarn.

I'm starting to feel the Christmas crafting bug coming on.

Flower Pincushion - Pincushion Swap

Two weeks ago I mailed off my pincushion swap to my partner in England.  She got it yesterday.  Here is what I made for her.  It is a flower pincushion that uses a jar lid as its base, and I also used eco-fi felt for it.  Eco-fi felt is made from recycled plastic bottles.  I used 3 different shades of blue felt for the petals, and then I painted lines on them with puffy paint.  The petals are good for storing sewing needles.

On the top are some green sequence with yellow paint dots in the center.  Then I lined the base of the yellow center with blue shiny trim.  My partner likes shiny stuff.

I also added some sequence to the base as well.

Here is what I received from my partner: two pincushions, the small one is a bottle cap ring pincushion.  The large one uses a sock around the outside of it.  Here is what my partner said about them: "Hi Hun I am so glad that you liked them. You are right about the sock. The strawberry fabric was left over my friends little girls dress. The black part on the side of the bottle top pincushion was the strap off my old velvet top and both of them are stuffed with wool from my friend’s pet sheep Bertie."


It was fun making the pincushion and getting some in trade.  I want to make another flower one for myself so that I have a good place to store all of my sewing needles as well as my pins.

Ocean Grove Round Washcloth

I started crocheting this washcloth Sunday night while having a special dinner at my yoga teacher's house.  I finished it yesterday.  I'm thinking about giving it to my yoga teacher as a thank you for hosting the dinner party (it was part of a weight loss & yoga combo class that I've been taking for a few weeks).  The washcloth was very easy to make, and it would be very easy to make it larger.  The pattern was free on Lion Brand's website: Ocean Grove Round Washcloth.

Episode 40: Lindsey Dank & Didgeridoo Down Under

This is episode #40 of my local access show called "Its Easy Being Green." My guest is Lindsey Dank of Didgeridoo Down Under. He talks about didgeridoo, how to make your own, and he plays some music with various didgeridoos, an African drum, a Native American flute, and other small instruments.

http://www.didgrevolution.com/
http://www.hometreecreations.com/Home_Tree_Creations/Workshops.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjerarY-1QY
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Didgeridoo-Down-Under/106716589364535
Last Wednesday I took my 4 year old to the library to watch a didgeridoo performance by Lindsey Dank.  It was awesome.  My son was jumping around, and when we got home he took a cardboard tube and started playing it like a didgeridoo.  He has done this every day since.  After the show, I introduced myself to Lindsey and asked if he would like to be on my show (didgeridoos came about in an eco-friendly way, and Lindsey had some that were made out of recycled materials).  He said yes, but since he is going to different schools and libraries around the country he would only be in town for a few days so we needed to film asap.  We filmed it last night.  I hope that you enjoy it, I sure did.  Thank you Lindsey for coming on my show and being a great guest.

Pincushion Swap

I received my pincushion swap package today, all the way from England.  My partner made me two pincushions.  The large one used a sock around the side and likely along the bottom.  The bottom has a pink felt flower on it.  A cute little surprise.  The top of it is fabric with a strawberry printed on it.  The small one is a bottle cap pincushion ring.  The ring part of it, and I think also the side of it, are pony tail holders.  Thank you very much fairydell, I love them!  I love that she used recycled materials to make these, and in ways that I wouldn't have thought of.  Very cute!

I'll share pictures of the one that I made for her after she receives it.

ATC Swap & other Summer pictures

The other day I received my ATC (artist trading card) swap.  These 12 cards came from 4 different people.  Each row of 3 is from a different person.  They are all so different and unique, and I love them.

I accidentally sent out extras and these are the ones that I had made that were returned to me.  I'll save them for another swap.

I've been working on a secret amigurumi project for a friend's birthday.  I'll let you wonder what I'm making ;)

Here are some pictures that I took at the beach the other day.

I took this picture tonight.  My family was waiting for pizza (I can't have any due to my diet), and I took a picture of the umbrella that we were sitting under.

Then I took a picture of one of my son's bike.  We took the kids out for a bike ride tonight and discovered a new pizza place.

Sorry that I haven't been posting much.  My husband recently installed a new hard drive in my computer.  I really needed the space.  Plus the amigurumi project is taking a little while to make.  I hope all of you are having a great summer.

Yoga Mat Bag

Last night I finished my yoga mat bag.  Here is the pattern that I used.  It was very easy to make.

I used 2 skeins of the ombre yarn and 1 skein of the lilac yarn.

I took it to my yoga class today and my instructor loved it.  In fact I wasn't sure if I would get back, lol.