Seams of Life

the Autumn urge

I guess its the crispness in the air, the gorgeous fall colors, or the anticipation of the cold season that follows it but Autumn always seems to evoke in me an urge to crochet. I know that soon the ones I love will have a need for warmth and I love nothing more than filling that need.

Right now the weather here is still warm so it's not quite time for hats and scarves. Yet, I still want to crochet. I have found the perfect small crochet projects in Linda Permann's lovely book Crochet Adorned.

I love this book. Linda's projects are so creative and opened my eyes to a whole new world of crochet. Many of her projects combine sewing and crocheting.

I was inspired by the Garden Party Cardigan featured on the cover and appliqued pretty crocheted flowers to one of my little girls sweaters.

I love how it turned out. It's too sweet for words. I'm working on another with a different color scheme for my other little girl.

I was a bit intimidated by the thought of sewing these flowers onto the sweater. Linda's tutorial here made the process go smooth though. Now these little guys are waiting to be sewn onto something.

Little birdies, another great pattern from Crochet Adorned. Perhaps they want to perch on some pillows, we'll see.

handmade eases the pain

Lately we've had a string of household bad luck that included 2 fender-benders, 4 cavities, a broken air conditioner, and a very leaky dishwasher. All of the above have been repaired save my dinosaur of dishwasher. This means, of course, that I have been washing. dishes. by. hand. until we can replace it. Ugh. This task may not bother some but for me it is the most despised household chore. I've used a dishwasher my entire adult life and only hand washed the rare pot or pan I couldn't squeeze in.

Lucky for me this little baby arrived on my doorstep and brought with it plethora of handmade ideas for the home.

I used Amanda's Towel Rug idea to create a little piece of eye candy that makes dish washing a bit more tolerable.

Both the towel and the pillowcase I used were thrifted and cost less than a $1 together (can you believe that a plastic dish mat costs $10). That makes this project about as thrifty as can be. And it took less than an hour to piece the whole thing together. Quick and cheap with beautiful results. I. love. it.

I'm still not rushing over to sink to do the dishes but I really enjoy glancing over and seeing my handmade treasure while I'm doing them.

(The crocheted circles perched on the edge of my sink are for scrubbing the dishes. I got the idea from this post on Craftzine.)

So thank you, Amanda Soule, for reminding me that even the worst parts of domesticity can be enjoyed with a bit of handmade. It is so gratifying to look around my home and see the things I have made myself being used and enjoyed. These little touches are what make a house our home.

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Other random-ness:

* I thrifted these wonderful handmade hot pads recently.

 

* I joined in on the Vintage Swap hosted by another Heather.

* I finished my degree (yay me!) and plan on being in this space a lot more now that I have more free time.