A Few Good Samples

Today when dh brought the mail in, he said it was Christmas for me. I had free samples in the mail. Today's included a sample of coffee big enough to make a full pot of coffee, a can of dog food that's a good size for the furbabies to split on Sunday's when they get their "num-num" meal of the week, and a Shout color-catcher. I love my free samples  :-) !

This is one site I get free samples from: http://www.freeflys.com/home .

Y'all have a great week!

WIP Wednesday for 06 Jul 2011 (a day early lol!)

I've been getting bored with the squares I've been working on. Can't seem to get motivated with them. I have 12 of 30 done. Remember them...?

I've started a project to work on when my main project starts to bore me. It's a ripple made out of magic ball yarn. I'm going to give it to dh for his man cave. I just started it today and used one magic ball. It's tucked away now until my crochet ADD kicks in again.

To see what other folks have been up to lately, click on the WIP button below.

 Hope everyone is having a great week. Hugs...

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern

In keeping with the holiday, today's free pattern is for a patriotic looking afghan. It's a graphed pattern and that is something I've wanted to tackle for a long time. One of these days....

Happy Independence Day 2011

Garden Update--

This coming week we should be eating green beans from our garden. Harvesting produce from my garden and putting it on the table to eat is great. So is canning or freezing fruits and veggies to eat over the winter. The following sites are the references I use for preserving my foods.

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/canning-tomato-juice-and-tomato-sauce I like this sauce recipe because you blend the skins in. I do strain the seeds out though. I pressure can mine according to instructions that came with my pressure canner.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html This is the USDA's website and they give very accurate and informative how-to information.

Here's a couple looks at my little garden:

The tomatoes--dh made the cages out of a roll of fencing material.

My potatoes growing in tires. We need to add more dirt and another tire soon. The potatoes will fill the levels of tires so you get more potatoes; easier to harvest than digging too. You can stack up to 4 high. We got some old tires from a tire shop. They have to pay to dispose of them so they were happy to give some to us.

ps--dh is embarrassed because the grass is so tall. Normally he cuts it twice a week but last week he only did it once. Have a great weekend and 4th of July!

DH and His Man Cave--2 WIPs

DH is going through some changes. He's decided to "retire" at the age of 49--I hope it's a temporary thing. Anyway, he, a few buddies and one of our sons have been puttering around in the garage for probably a couple months now making it into a man cave. Here's a few pictures of the status of one of these projects as of today:

Mixing Paint

New Walls

Ooops! Painters Tape Falling Down!

1 of 2 New Ceiling Fans

Son Hard at Work Painting above Garage Door

Son Painting. Really Need to Do Something Where the Opener Connects to Wall.

DH Taking His Turn Painting

The Garage Door Spring Was Painted Too.

Some Trim to Go Somewhere

Our house is an older one--built ca 1959. The attached garage was built in 1969. Up until 2 years ago, there was no way to go from the house to the garage. We got rid of a few closets and built a hallway that led to a new door into the garage.  There was no drywall, nor was there a ceiling in the garage previous to dh's middle-age crisis. With a house this old, there is always something to do but it has good solid "bones" to work with. 

Have a great weekend and enjoy the holiday....

 Search Amazon.com for garage door opener

The Other Day at Walmart...

When I was at Walmart the other day, the cashier told me she was at a meeting for shareholders and they were told that Walmart is bringing back 8,000 new products including fabrics. I hope that means the yarn selection will improve at our local store. This month they are supposed to start remodeling/setting-up for it. We'll see....

New Link Added for Round Afghan

If you look under my blog's header, you will see where to click for various pages I maintain. There is one page for links to free patterns for round(ish) afghans. Under today's date I have posted a new link. If you find any broken links or have a recommendation for a new one please let me know. Thanks!

WIP Wednesday--29 June 2011

Currently I'm making an afghan for a special person. I'm using a variation of the granny square and here's the 2 versions I'm using:

Edited to add the WIP button. Click on the button and see what other crafty folks are working on.




Search Amazon.com for granny square pattern

Little Friend and New Hat

With the permission of my little friend's mom, I'm posting pictures here showing her wearing the hat I made for her. She's really a cutie. Her grandma and I met in Hawaii back in the late 80s and have been friends ever since. It is so great to have long-time friends!

Have You Ever Felt Like This?

Sometimes I feel like this, not necessarily with dh but with some folks I know. Nothing new going on, I just saw this video on fb and thought about a few people in my past that this applied to. It's great to see a strong woman like this one...

Link to Free Crochet Pattern 27 June 2011

Here's a link to a pattern for a floppy brimmed hat made out of granny squares. It's an older pattern but I bet it would be nice in the summer made out of cotton yarn. Enjoy :-)

Granny 'Ghan Reveal

I've posted about this so many times that you're probably tired of it. This should be the last post about it. ;-)

Beautiful Music...

I have to admit that I don't keep up with the latest in music. I usually listen to classic rock music and dh listens to classic country. My friend was telling that she had to buy the CD with the following song on it. Of course, being the stick in the mud I am, I hadn't heard it so I had to find it on Youtube and I LOVE it! Here for your enjoyment--



Search Amazon.com for luther vandross

It's Gonna Be a Polka Dot Afghan

I tried out a different square pattern to make 1 of the afghans I have planned for this year. I'm trying to use up my stash so there's the big reason for my color choice. I'll probably have to pick up more black yarn but at least I'll be using up the reddish/burgundy color that is a mill end. Here's a link to the pattern for the square. At the bottom of the post is the first square I made for this new 'ghan. Other news, I am totally finished with the other granny 'ghan! Tomorrow I'm going to post a picture for you to see.

Here's a Good Coupon

For the ladies, here's a coupon for Old Navy. You will get a tank for $2! It is good tomorrow only so check it out.

Quick Update on Granny 'Ghan

The squares are all sewn together, the edging is done. Only a few ends left to weave in and then I'll post a picture of the finished object for you. I still have a few afghans left to make this year. I have to make one for a friend of ours because he has been so kind with helping with carpentry type things at our house and has given dh a few paying jobs to do. Another I need to make is for my son and dil for a Christmas present. The 3rd afghan is for an aunt of mine. I've made all my other aunts and uncles one and I want to give her one too because she's a special lady. And the 4th one is for my dear brother because I love the kid him. Guess I'll be busy for a while. Take care and stay tuned for the reveal....

A few squares I used in this project. I know, I used this picture before. :)

WIP Wednesday-- 22 June 2011

I had put this afghan of granny squares aside for a little while but now I have the squares all sewn together and I'm working on the edging. Hopefully in a few days I'll be able to show you a completed 'ghan. This picture is just a small look so I don't ruin the final reveal lol!

Click the following button to see what some crafty folks are working on:

Hey--

Since some of you have taken the time and effort to make buttons to link to your page, let me know if you have one and I'll post it on a special page that lists them. I started going through some of the blogs I read but there are so many of them that it is a big chore.  Drop me a line and I'll grab yours and post on the special page I have. Hugs....

Completed: Cloche for Little Girl

Gosh I love how this turned out! I just hope it fits the little girl I have in mind to give it to. I used this pattern: http://crochet.about.com/od/hats/a/crocheted-cloche-hat-free-pattern.htm and I used a different flower: http://tallennl.livejournal.com/13248.html. I used the pattern for the large flower.

I know I  mentioned in a previous post that my gauge was way off so I had to down-size my hook from a G to a D. I modified the ruffle by using triple crochets and slip stitches instead of double crochets and single crochets. I'm not fond of patterns that say to crochet until project reaches a certain size but overall, I am happy with the results. 


Hope everyone is having a great week.