Baby's First Blanket

When we found out we were pregnant, I knew I was going to want to make some things for this baby. I waited to find out if it was a boy or a girl before I started anything.

My first project that I've completed is this crocheted baby blanket.

I found these gorgeous and soft yarns at our BX one day and knew these were the colors I wanted. 

They are Red Heart Soft Baby Steps in Baby Blue, Baby Green and White.

I bought 2 skeins of each color, 6 skeins of yarn total and used it all.

I did a simple single crochet using all three yarns at the same time using a large size P crochet needle. The effect was really pretty and created a really bulky warm blanket for our September baby.

It came together pretty quickly when I actually had time to sit down and crochet it (usually while I was catching up on some of my favorite shows. Anybody else love Scandal!? Addicted! I have 2 more episodes left.)

It ended up being pretty large, measuring 52x42 inches but it's perfect.

 I can't wait for our little boy to be snuggled up with it!

My Granny Square Blanket!! {And Bedroom Tour}

This past weekend, I FINALLY finished the granny square blanket for our bedroom. Yipee for me!! It's ginormous! It almost covers our entire queen size bed! I thought I would share some pictures of the blanket and also give you a tour of our new bedroom in our new house in Germany.

Here I've spread it out on the bed and you can see how big it is. I decided that every couple of years when we move, I'm going to let myself change up the bedroom. A couple new paintings, and new throw and some new pillows for the bed and I've got a whole new look. My mom gave us this beautiful white comforter for an early Christmas present this year so it creates a clean backdrop for easy changes later. Love the bright pops of color!!

All folded up. I'm in love with this blanket, it's so soft and cozy!!

Looking into our bedroom.

The beautiful peacock pillows are from Pillowmio Etsy Shop, and the heart painting is one I did last summer.

The blanket was the color inspiration for our room. See how it pulls it all together.

Our dresser.

Mini paintings I made for us. Our nicknames from high school.
I'm cupcake, he's muffin. We're nerds, we know! :)

The one lonely window in our bedroom, hence the poorly lit photos. I'm sorry haha!

Chest of drawers with our bird painting, another one by me, and my Grandma's old Avon bubble bath bottle and my elephant.

I adore this elephant. I got him for only a few bucks at a grocery store. He was marked down on clearance for their garden decorations at the end of the summer last year. Our family friend Nancy had one in her house and I knew I wanted one for mine too! He's so adorable!

And, so you can see how big the blanket is again, here I am snuggled up in it! Hahaha!

This was truly a labor of love and I'm so happy to be done with it! Now on to my next granny square blanket?!

Have you finished any fun projects lately? What are you working on?

xo's

Cat

2 Balloons and 80 Grannys!

I think someone knew it was my half birthday today!

These balloons are caught in the tree across the street from my house.

The pink one has already popped since I snapped this picture. Oh well, they were a cheerful "little thing" that made me smile!

Oh yea, and remember that granny square blanket that I started back at the end of the summer. Well with moving, unpacking, exploring, birthdays, family visiting, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I just now realized that I finished up all 80 squares for it. I laid them all out today to count them and HOORAY, I'm done making squares! Now all I need to do is sew in all the loose ends and crochet them together. Shouldn't take long right? I mean 80 granny squares only took me 6 months.

Ok, who cares how long it took me?! It's my project for me, and I've enjoyed doing it. The best is crocheting in the car while your husband drives! I plan on watching my old seasons of Friends while I finish up this blanket. No deadline, just doing it at my own pace!

And just FYI today feels like Friday because my husband is at work. He has tomorrow off so tomorrow will feel like Saturday instead of Sunday.

Come back tomorrow for my Sunday Confessions (in photos)!

Ciao!

Cat

Christmas Craft: Crochet Snowflakes

A Christmas Craft!
These crocheted snowflakes are so fun!
I warn you now, these can be really addictive!

They are pretty easy and fast to make. I found the pattern here.

I used white Red Heart yarn and a 5mm hook.


DIRECTIONS:
First chain 6, then join with slip stitch to form a ring.
1. Chain 3 double chains into ring
2. Chain 5, then slip stitch in 5th chain from hook, to form a loop. (this is called a Picot)
3.  Repeat Picot 2 more times.
4. Slip stitch in first stitch of first Picot of 3-Picot group just made.
(This makes one point on the snowflake)
5. 2 double chain in ring
6. Repeat steps 2-5 four more times to make a 5 pointed snowflake.
7. Join with a slip stitch to top of beginning chain 3
8. Finish off and sew in ends.

***Sometimes I have a hard time reading directions when crocheting. If you're like that too, let me know in a comment, I'm considering making a short video on how to crochet these snowflakes.***

Your snowflakes will be floppy and want to fold up.
To make them stiffer and hang pretty, I decided to pin mine down to cardboard and spray with them with starch.
Then, I sprinkled mine with a little silver glitter for a little bit of sparkle!

Sprinkle with glitter when they are wet with starch. Let them dry, flip them over, pin them again and do the other side.


They can be used several ways:

Use them for decorating presents, hang them as ornaments, make a garland or make a pretty window decoration!

Have fun with them!
Happy crocheting!

xo's

Cat

Granny Update

I've been working on my Granny squares since I've been in Germany.

I crocheted up all my yarn already!!

I tried to spread it out so I didn't use all the yarn in the first week (it might have been possible).

I think I have 26 squares made.

I have my yarn on order, because of course, they don't have it here!

 

I can't wait to see it all finished! It's going to be so lovely!

xo's

Cat 

♥♥♥

477, that's a lot.

I don't just paint, I crochet too!

I've picked up my crochet hook again. Lately I've been working on my granny square blanket that I started a few months ago. I'm making it to go in our bedroom. I love these colors together. I call them raspberry, snow white, and Tiffany blue. I can't remember what the real colors are.

I haven't decided if I'm going to make each square exactly the same or mix it up a bit. I like how this one looks with more blue than pink. I have a ton more to make so I have plenty of time to decide! This is going to be my "take-along" project while we are in the airport and hotels and flying on the plane.

Today, my Aunt is coming to play with Ariana so that I can go downtown and have some alone time (with my camera). I've emptied my memory card off and have room for 477 pictures. I'm excited to see what all random things I can find to take pictures of. I have no rules, no expectations. Just to go and photograph. Wander around, or sit on a park bench. I'm going to enjoy my day! I may only end up with one picture that I really like, I may end up with 50. I never know.

So, I hope you are all having a happy Friday! What are you plans for today and the weekend? I would love to know everyone has planned for Labor Day weekend. What are mine....oh just my husband coming home after almost 6 months of being away! Ya know! :)

xo's

Cat

♥♥♥

Pretty Pink Panda

Aren't weekends the best!?!?!

 I just love them!

I've been watching more Weeds today and enjoyed some shopping with my family! 

Not much to post about. I've been working on some projects but I'm not ready to share them yet. Here are some pictures that I wanted to share!

Pretty Pink Panda makes her debut!!

 

 My pretty pink panda I crocheted. No pattern, I just went for it. That's what I love about crocheting. I love being able to pick up yarn and a crochet hook and create whatever comes to my mind! What do you think?

  

 She's fun! Do you think she needs a bow? Bow or no bow?

  

 We got our first edition of Food Network Magazine in the mail!! How awesome! I already want to try all the things I saw in there! AND NOW I want a new, bigger kitchen!

  

 My boys snoozing away on the couch. Paco is so funny!

  

 A little sneak peek into some crafts I've been working on. Just a peek! Crocheted flowers are fun!!

  

 I have some lovely plans for this fabric, and some others that I purchased last week.

 

Rainbow Brite!! I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE her! I was her for Halloween a few years ago (homemade costume of course, since all the store bought ones were pretty slutty). I found her at Target! Is she making a comeback?! I might have to go back and buy her!

 

Also at Target, I found a Create a Hello Kitty! Reminded me of Carrie since I know she loves Hello Kitty!

This girlie loves to read! This is her last night as we were getting ready for bed (notice the cute panda pajamas!! LOVE them!) She is reading the Bedtime Princess hehe!

That's all for now. I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!!

xoxo,

Cat

Operation Granny Square

Amy over at Creating Myselfcame up with a really great idea to raise money for Haiti. She is collecting granny squares and for each granny square she collects she is donating money towards Haiti. She's calling it Operation Granny Square. (I love the name btw Amy!)

This got me thinking (and crocheting). I consider myself a beginner crocheter but I decided to learn to crochet a granny square just to send to Amy. Here is my first one:

It's not done, the ends need to be sewn in but It's not too bad for a first try. I'm working on some more tonight in hopes that I can mail a stack out in the next day or two.

To read more about her Operation Granny Square, check out her blog here.

xoxo,

Cat

P.S. I have sent out a reminder email to everyone who signed up for my Valentine Card Swap. If you got an email from me, I have you on my list. I still need a few addresses for people who emailed me about doing it, but never sent me their address, so everyone please check your emails.

I want to thank everyone who signed up!  I'm excited to start working on my cards (I have lots of fun ideas!)

One Crafty Little Cupcake!

It seems that every free second that I've had today I've spent doing this...

CROCHETING!!

I snagged this picture from my  Project 365 blog. If you haven't heard of Project 365, it's really a cool concept. You are suppose to take a photo a day for a year. I heard about this at the beginning of last year and I decided that this year I would take it on.

Why? 

For a couple of reasons:

1. I love photography!

2. Although I love it, sometimes I don't seem to find the time to take pictures when I know I want to.

3. I thought it would be a great way to chronicle my year.

4. If you do something for a year you're bound to get better at it, right?

5. I thought it would be a good goal, and something I thought might be easy, one picture a day, that's all it asks for, sounds easy enough, right??!

So, I created a seperate blog to post all my pictures. I wanted them all together so it was easy to look at them instead of scattered throughout this blog. Check it out here if you would like to follow me on my journey through the year in pictures!

Enough about my Project 365, what I really wanted to blog about was my SUPER cute cupcake that I made today!!

I would like to thank Allison, Sarah, Rich, and Kristy for inspiring me to make this! In my post called Amigurumi needs a little guidance, they all suggested that I made a cupcake! I'll admit I LOVE THEM! So thank you guys for being such great friends and this little cupcake is for y'all!

 

I have to say this was my first creating something other than a scarf or plain and simple blanket using crochet. I think it turned out cute, even the little cherry on top that gave me a little trouble at one point. Tell me what you think!

Now, I'm excited to make more and more cute stuff! :)

xo,

Cat

Little hearts

I have learned how to crochet little hearts. These are some that I made yesterday morning while sipping my coffee, since then I've made more and in more colors! I'm feeling very lovey dovey and I'm ready for Valentine's Day I guess! Not sure what I'm going to do with all of them but some are going to be hung on my finger garland in my kitchen where my Christmas cards were.

Yesterday was my first day since my Mom left. She came for a week for Christmas and ended up staying 5 extra days. Somehow Delta overbooked her first flight home so she volunteered to get off the flight and stayed here longer. (with compensation of course). Sunday we packed her back up and I took her to the airport for the second time. Amazing they had overbooked her flight again! You would think they could get to together! She had to get back to her job so she couldn't volunteer to stay again, although that would have been nice. I had such a good time with her here. It's been a long time since I got to just spend time with her!

Yesterday my husband got sick. I had to run out the the store and medicine and saltines and Gatorade and and 2 cans of Lysol and other things to make him feel better. I was trying to be his nurse, while at the same time trying to keep Ariana and I as far away from him as possible. He's still sleeping, so I hope he feels better this morning!

I also started a blog for my Project 365! I hope everyone takes the time to check it out every now and then and let me know how I'm doing. I might need some encouragement as the year wears on and the newness wears off!

Happy Day Everyone!

xoxo,

Cat