FO Friday - African Flower Afghan!!

Yes, it is officially complete! I just cannot believe it took so long to complete this afghan. I know that I ventured off into other projects (who can work on only one project at a time) and so the process has taken longer than I wanted.

I just love it! It turned out so pretty. I decided on a simple border because the African flower squares are the show stopper. The border is a single crochet of the sienna color. It measures out to be 65.5 inches x 56.2 inches.

Joining the squares took a lot less time than I thought they would. I was able to have them all joined in just a few days. I do have a few squares left over because I decided to finally stop making squares and start the joining process. I plan on making a couple of throw pillows with the left over squares! I will definitely share the end results. So with no further adieu I present you with my FO African Flower Afghan!!

 

Just to note again that I used the African Flower Pattern by Barbara Smith on her blog, Made in K-town.  I used the Invisible Seam joining technique by Leonie Morgan to join all the squares.

 

I am linking up with Tami's Amis this Friday. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Joining Squares and Enjoying the Changing of the Seasons!!

Hi everyone. My extended weekend has been about joining my African Flower squares and enjoying the touches of the changing of seasons. We have had rain everyday, but there has been some moments in between the rain fall where I could catch some outside time.

I took the crocheting outdoors and enjoyed a mug of spicy chai tea. While enjoying the cool morning air, a few leaves began to fall around me. I had to take a moment and capture the falling of the first leaves!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Hopefully the rain lets up soon so I can do some hiking on the mountain trails!

WIP Wednesday - African Flowers and Forgotten Squares

It is another Wednesday already! I have been working solely on my African Flower Afghan. I displayed them out on my king size bed and realize I need about 4 more rows of 12. Yep, 48 more squares. I believe I have enough of the blues that I have been working with to complete it. I might run out of the white again though! :-(

 



I also came across some forgotten squares that I worked up a year ago. There is enough to probably make a lapghan out of them. Again I was working with circle in a square motif.

That is it for this week for WIPs. Take a moment and hop over to Tami's Amis blog for more WIPs! Enjoy the rest of your week. Now I need to get back to this African Flower Afghan Blanket Monstrosity!

WIP Wednesday - Yarn Love

Hello! I am still working on my African Flower Afghan. I haven't worked much on the Dancing in Daisies Blanket due to not yet finding the right color and texture for blocking the daisies. I also need more of the off white and yellow yarn to make more daisies. I calculated that I need about 80 more!

I have also put my Flower Collage on the back burner because I am now wanting a totally different color scheme! Plus the move has made it difficult to paint the canvas since all the paints and canvas are packed away in one of the many boxes I have still to unpack.

I did find the time to order some new yarn! Lion Brand has some great clearance sales on their website from time to time. This time it was 50% off for packages of 3 skeins! I just could not pass that deal up especially since the only places in town to purchase yarn is Wal-Mart or Michael's. They don't carry a very wide variety of Lion Brand.

 

It's a great variety of colors and textures! I have never crocheted using mohair yarn. It's the multi-blue in the left hand corner of the center picture. I am thinking a nice scarf will look so lovely in that color. I am also testing the organic hemp yarn which is the turquoise and oyster solid colors. Now I have to sneak them into my stash bins without the hubby noticing! LOL! Since we were moving I had them delivered to my office, so he has no clue. ;-)

 

Enjoy the rest of the Summer. Kids start back to school around here at the end of the month.

 

We did have a wild fire that started yesterday around  Lake Rockport which is about 10 miles away from Park City. It was caused by a lightning strike and then it was a very windy day and made it spread and leap. Prayers go out to anyone who lost a home and property. Luckily no casualties just homes and property which are replaceable.

 

Please check out other's who have some wonderful WIPs to share over at Tami's Amis blog!

Biking & Crocheting...my two stress relievers

I haven't finished any items this week, but I have been able to make some leeway with the African Flower Afghan. I have made 16 more African flower motifs, they just need to be squared up with the white...that I don't have because I need to go buy more today.

Yesterday was a breezy sunny day so I biked to work. When I know I have some downtime during work a bring along a couple of skeins of yarn and do some crocheting. Since I had to bike home after work, I decided to take a long bike ride and ended up at one of my favorite parks. I found a nice shady spot and whipped out my crochet items!

It was so nice and breezy. I crocheted and watched kids run all over the place. It's so sweet to listen to 5 year olds carry on conversations. They are so precious at that age.

 

I always put my yarn and crochet items in a Ziploc bag so they won't get dirty in my backpack. A was able to complete a few motifs.

 

After sitting for awhile crocheting, I decided to head home and begin dinner for the family. The bike path wraps around a soccer field and they had the sprinklers going! Yes, I acted like a kid and rode right through them! I was completely dry by the time I made it home. Another reason why I place my crochet items in a Ziploc bag!!

 

Go and check out actual FO Fridays @ Tami's.

WIP Wednesday - Granny Square Scarf

Happy Wednesday!! A few weeks ago I was attempting to work on the sweet eleanor scarf. I had to frog what I had started and start over. I decided to attempt it again when I went on a car trip at the end of June. Well, this pattern takes a lot of counting and that is difficult to do when you are riding in a car with a talkative hubby! So I decided to just go simple and worked on a granny square scarf. I would have completed it during our road trip, but I only took along two balls of yarn! It needs probably another half of ball to complete it. It has sat on my crochet pile for the past couple of weeks and now it is time to finish it up.

I love this yarn. It is Woodlands Tweedstripes by Lion Brand. I love the blue accent color. I will add a couple of buttons at one end so it can become an infinity scarf.

I have also worked on the African Flower afghan by making more squares. I am almost out of the white yarn, so I will need to replenish my stock. Looking at what I have completed, I realize that the color scheme is pretty much blue, sienna, and white. I wasn't planning on a prominent blue look, but I do seem to have a lot of blue yarn in my stash.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Maybe I will have this scarf completed and can post a FO on Friday! Please take a moment and hop over to Tami's Amis blog for many other WIP's!

WIP Wednesday - Same projects but with some progress

Happy Wednesday! Every Wednesday all I can think about is that Geico commercial with the camel...Woot! Woot! Hump Day!...LOL!! Okay if you haven't seen it, it is quite hilarious.

I have been steadily working on all my open projects. I squared up a few of the African Flowers for my afghan. I had about 16 that needed the white border. Then I crocheted about 16 more over the 4th of July holiday. I have about 40 squares total and need probably 100 more!

I found a great site to help calculate how many squares I would need for a queen size blanket. You can go here  and there is a chart that gives you the number of squares needed for your afghan according to the size you are wanting to make. Granted it might not be exact if you are planning to add border, but it gives a great idea of how many needed.



I tried using embroidery craft thread to make some flowers. They turned out really nice, but I am not use to using such a small hook and thin thread! It takes some getting use to that's for sure. I used this tutorial for a 5-petal flower and then added some buttons. Very crafty!!

No new projects this week, just trying to get some headway on the same ones.

Take a moment and check out Tami's Amis and Other Creations blog for other WIPs.

Now I will leave you with some gorgeous tree canopy pictures!

WIP Wednesday - Jar Cosies, Flower Collage, & Scarf

Happy Wednesday!! I have a few WIPs on my plate. I am still working on the African Flower Afghan and Dancing in Daisies Blanket. I have decided to go with the light blue and brown Red Heart Soft yarn for the color scheme on the Dancing in Daisies Blanket. I tried a couple of other colors, but they just didn't pan out.

I was able to complete another jar cosie.

I still have two more jars to crochet cosies for. I am loving these quick crafty jar cosies. I am thinking of adding an applique to one of the jars. Maybe a flower or heart.

I have also steadily been working on the Flower Collage. I have added a couple more flowers and still working on some leaf ideas.

Placing the flowers on poster board to get an idea of placement and if I need anymore flowers.

Pretty red flower pattern with buttons. Croco Flower pattern by Bonita Patterns called for 7 petals but I like it with just 6 petals. I did make some sand colored ones with the 7 petals and they look nice.

I found this really pretty scarf pattern on Ravelry. It is called the Sweet Eleanor Scarf and designed by Quince Tart. It isn't a difficult pattern to follow, but (yeah a but) I think I messed up on it somewhere. So I will be frogging and retrying. I have a road trip scheduled at the end of the week and it will be my car ride project.

Take a moment and hop over to Tami's Amis blog to check out other Wednesday WIPs. Have a great week!!



WIP Wednesday - Simply Soft & African Flower Afghans

I cannot believe it is already Wednesday! April is over and now it's time for May flowers! I had a nice long bike ride this weekend and came across some blooming daffodils! Of course I did not have my camera with me, so no pics of the daffodils today. I will be sure to snap a pic this coming weekend and share next week. Maybe Spring will sprout soon around the Wasatch. The wildflowers here are just gorgeous once they begin to bloom, it just takes awhile because of our crazy cold fronts that want to blast us in April and May. Okay enough about Spring flowers....

I have completed the blocking of my Simply Soft DROPS Design 124-1 afghan blocks.

I laid out my additional blocks around the one I had already joined ...I just do not like the layout and have decided to take them apart and join differently. I really want to complete this project and mark it off my list. I have loved the pattern. I am just ready to work on the border! Plus I plan on giving this one to my sister when she visits in June.


My African Flower Afghan squares are turning out so lovely. This will be a long-term project because I want this to be more of a blanket. So lots of squares to make!!

Along with these WIPs and my quilt WIPs, I have a lot of projects to complete. Which makes a dilemma for me when I want to so badly begin this Daisy Blanket. How many of you find yourselves in the same dilemma? Please share with me how many WIPs you are currently working on. Link your projects if you have a blog so I can share in your creative works.

Take a moment to hop over to Tami's Amis and Other Creations: WIPW and check out all the other creative crocheters and knitters! Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!

WIP Wednesday - African Flower Afghan

Our weather in the Wasatch Mountains has been fickle this Spring. Each week we receive beautiful sunshine followed by three days of rain and snow. Since there really aren't any Spring flowers sprouting as of yet, I was in the mood to make my own. I did a lot of searching through pinterest and Ravelry. I finally found the right pattern. It is the African Flower Square by Barbara Langer at Made in K-town blog. Her tutorial is written so well. I was able to whip up my first square in a jiffy. She has clear and concise photos for each step that really keep you on mark.

African Flowers before squaring up with white.

I am using scrap stash bundles for this afghan. The two colors that will be throughout each square is white and sienna. Both are Lion Brand Yarn. The other mix-match yarn will just be the few left overs I have from previous projects. I really enjoy tackling scrap stash projects. Mainly because once all the small scraps are used then it is time to re-stock!! Yes, shop for more yarn! What girl doesn't love that?!

I am really enjoying this pattern. There are a lot of tail weaving because of the many color changes, but I am trying to weave as I go. My first square I didn't weave as I went and it was a little time consuming at the end. All and all, a very easy pattern and you just can't beat the end result!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!! Take a moment and hop over to Tami's Amis and Other Creations: WIPW and check out other bloggers' WIPW.